Intricate Tapestry
by ETNRL4L
Summary: Devlin and Kenny manage to get grounded for something dumb and insensitive Kenny does to his little sister. What's the solution? Go dimension hopping to pass the time! What could possibly go wrong? Please read and find out. Gwevin & Benlie in later Chaps.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is the first fan fiction I have ever written. After a decade of enjoying the writing of others, I have finally steeled myself to contribute something. This is inspired by the artwork of some wonderful artists such as ~Kapaychan and *kitsune999 among others at DA, as well as the amazing writing of Skylark Evanson, ParamoreXO, brandirandom21, *DivineRoseBoot and Eternal-Night-Ride. There are many others who inspire me and have inspired me through the years, however, they are too many to list so I can only thank you all for your gifts to us readers. If any of those listed read this, I humbly apologize in advance if my work is not up to par with those who inspired it. This is dedicated to my amazing husband who supports me in all I do.**

**I feel obliged to give special acknowledgment to ~Kapaychan who allowed me to use her GwennyII character in this story.**

**Disclaimer: Ben, Kevin, Gwen and all other characters from Ben 10, Ben 10 Alien Force and Ben 10 Ultimate Alien belong to Man of Action. **

**Hope you all enjoy!**

The dark haired teen couldn't help crack a smirk as he leaned against the hood of his revamped, silver, 1967 Shelby Mustang GT and tried to work on his trigonometry homework.

The holographic readout on his tablet was hard to focus on when two very noticeable, very attractive (obviously freshman) girls, kept ogling him and giggling not ten feet from where he stood waiting for his moronic cousins to come out, so he could give them a ride home.

Sometimes, he hated being the oldest. It meant that since he was the first to get his license, he had to chauffeur the other two back and forth to school. In his mind, this was totally unnecessary, as they both owned hover boards. But, no… "You have to look out for each other", both his parents and Uncle Ben, had said. "Our enemies would jump at the chance to get at us through you kids."

To that, his mother had aggravatingly logically and lovingly added, "Especially you, Devlin. You know they've tried to get at you since you were little and your abilities manifested. If anything were to happen to you… I could never forgive myself." Then she got that haunted, forlorn, almost guilty look in her beautiful jade green eyes that almost perfectly mirrored his.

It was as if she blamed herself for his abilities and the corresponding temptation they posed to those who would seek to use them against the universe. Devlin couldn't fathom why, though.

He loved who he was. He'd certainly never change it! Azmuth had explained to both him and his parents when he was six that both his particular hybrid genetic composition and the corresponding mixed Anodyte and Osmosian abilities had likely never occurred before in the history of the universe, because a full-blooded Anodyte and a full-blooded Osmosian could never conceive a child.

His conception, Azmuth gathered, was probably around a one in a trillion shot and even then, only occurred because both parents were at least, half human and that genetic material had worked as a form of buffer between the other two alien genetic codes that intertwined to form a being as singular as Devlin.

His powers were much the same. He had both parent's abilities. He absorbed energy like his father, but could manipulate manna, which in essence was life energy itself, much like his mother. His human DNA buffered his alien abilities in a way that created an unexpected side effect to his powers. Devlin could absorb _any _energy, not just matter. Then, use his corresponding Anodyte abilities to manipulate the energy into manna, which was completely harmless to him. Thus, the weakness all Osmosians possessed when it came to absorbing raw energy or life energy and going insane, simply didn't apply to him.

When his unique abilities became the knowledge of the wrong kind of element in the Galaxy, Azmuth learned of a plot to kidnap the youth in hopes of cloning him. This was when the boy was eight years old. As a solution, Gwen and Kevin allowed Azmuth to publish an exact genetic record of Devlin publicly to the universe. If they wanted to clone him, let them, as long as their son was safe by their side. They'd deal with the repercussions later.

It turned out that Devlin's DNA was far too complex to replicate- much to the chagrin of about a dozen or so evil scientists who tried and failed miserably to clone him. Every attempt ended with one kind of offense against nature or another, which usually killed its creator and had to be taken down aggressively by the Plumbers.

After that, when he was around ten, someone tried mind control on him. However, by this time, he had spent a summer with his great-grandmother Verdona on Anodine and she had taught him the mental discipline needed to keep such infiltrations at bay.

It had been six years since the last idiot tried anything, but Gwen still blamed herself as if she could have done anything to prevent the attempts against her son.

Devlin honestly couldn't understand this. If anything, the fact that she and his dad hadn't been able to provide him a sibling in sixteen years of trying, should be proof enough to her that they had absolutely no control over what or why he was.

Still, every time Gwen gave him that look, he gave in and did anything his mother asked. It was as if she had a special power or something. His dad was considered one of the toughest, most hard-ass Plumbers in multiple galaxies and just one of those looks from _her_, labeled him 'whipped'. Maybe, he could sweet-talk her into teaching him that some day after martial arts training. He doubted it, though. It was likely one of those Gwendolyn Levin take-it-to-her-death secrets.

Hence, he was standing here at _her_ imploration, like an idiot, waiting for his younger second cousins to finally emerge from the learning institution in which, all three attended high school.

Of course, he could be sitting in the car. It's not as if the Tennyson siblings wouldn't recognize the silver, antique Mustang parked in front of their school. Especially, since they had been in it dozens of times since his parents surprised him with it when he first got his license.

Actually, to be exact, they surprised him with a rusted shell of a 1967 Shelby Mustang GT.

It didn't run. Not that cars ran on gasoline engines anymore; which is what the thing had.

The paint was non-existent. The interior was trash.

To anyone other than Devlin Levin, this 'car' was a junk heap. However, it had always been_ his_ dream to own _that_ car ever since he saw it in some ancient recording his dad had.

To this day, Devlin had no idea where his dad found it. They worked together on it for two weeks just to get all the technology in it up to date. Then, both his parents were deployed on a mission and he ended up finishing the interior and paint job on his own. He kept the rubber wheels on the car. Although, he had to replace the 'rubber' itself with an off-world polymer as that material was no longer produced on earth. It was a lot of effort, but he wanted to keep the overall authentic look on the outside. Although, on the inside, it was totally decked out with the latest tech. (The Levin household was never short on tech, especially the garage.)

The 'authenticity', however, made his ride stand out like a sore thumb amongst all the other modern vehicles hovering about the front of his school. Therefore, being noticed by Gwenny and Kenny was not the reason he was not in his car.

No. The reason Devlin Levin was currently reclining against the hood of his car instead of snuggled in the plush, black leather appointed, climate controlled interior… was his male ego.

He'd noticed the two aforementioned fan girls following him as he walked through the halls from his locker to his car.

What could he say? He was flattered!

Devlin knew he was handsome. Everyone, both male and female drooled over his dad and he had inherited the man's exact body type and abundant musculature.

He was broad shouldered and large boned. He had always been big for his age even when he was an infant. A fact his mother liked bringing up whenever she was especially pissed off at one of his shenanigans and that unfortunately, was often. "When I think, I went through forty-seven excruciating hours of labor just to give birth to your, selfish, humongous…" The way that statement ended differed in colorfulness of language, depending on the severity of the actions on Devlin's part, which had originally brought on the rant.

Devlin always had to swallow his tongue to keep from biting back with, _'Well Mom, there _**_is_**_ such a thing as a caesarean section, but no... Wonder-woman had to go all 'natural childbirth', so that she could rub it in her kid's face the rest of his life!' _

He was pretty sure, regardless of the fact that his mother had never really raised a hand to him outside martial arts training; she would snap and wipe the floor with him if he ever let_ that_ slip. He visibly shuddered at the retaliation his father's twisted mind would conjure up for him afterwards for having disrespected his mother and the love of his life.

Yeah. Devlin sagely kept his comments to himself.

Continuing Devlin's physical description, one would immediately focus on the one feature gifted to him by his mother: his large, expressive, jade green eyes.

All his other facial features were Kevin's (much to his mother's mock chagrin). He had his dad's angular chin, dark brow and slightly hooked nose. He had his father's raven black hair that fell just past his shoulders when he wore it loose, which seldom happened as it bothered him horribly to have it loose (although, curiously, not enough for him to cut it).

Therefore, he kept it tied into a high wolf tail and shaved all the hair around the circumference of the back of his head from ear to ear, off. The only indicators of the true length of his hair were the bangs he allowed to fall and partially obscure his face when he didn't tuck them behind his ear.

Devlin's pallor, he'd always figured, came from both his parents- his mom being a 'Ginger' and his dad being very pale, as well. His smile, which he more often than not wore as a smirk… that was all Kevin, he had seen it reflected on his father too many times to think otherwise.

All in all, this combination of physical attributes made Devlin quite the little piece of eye candy and by God if he didn't know it.

So, maybe he was a little cocky! His dad certainly was. God knows, his uncle Ben had an ego the size of Jupiter. So like, wasn't he genetically inclined to be arrogant about his looks, or something? _He_ certainly thought so.

This is the reason he hadn't bothered with sitting in his car while he waited for his cousins and instead stood leaned against the hood trying to look inconspicuously sexy while starting on his homework. After all, his fans deserved a good show for their arduous effort in trailing him all the way here.

Who was he to disappoint?

So absorbed was he in putting on his little show while trying to think up the most aloof way to get their numbers that he didn't notice the two very amused teens he'd been waiting for sidle up to him on his blind side.

"Hey Cuz, they're hot!"

To say Devlin jumped at the sudden intrusion of his cousin Kenny's voice would be a gross understatement. The teen literally flew off the hood of the car, simultaneously snapping his head towards his cousin, which caused his homework pad to go flying smack right onto the hard pavement.

This overreaction was apparently hilarious to both his fan girls a few feet away and his female cousin Gwenny, if the chorus of unbridled, unrestrained laughter was any indication.

"Yeesh, Dev! Twitchy much?" The dark haired, almond eyed, girl was finally able to get out between bouts of laughter. Devlin had the stealth of a wild cat. Catching him uncoordinated was just too precious.

"Bite me, Gwendolyn! Get in the car! Now! The both of you!"

Devlin felt the heat of a furious blush rise up his neck into his cheeks, which mirrored the rise in his temper perfectly (a dangerous temper was another one of those things he was fortunate enough to inherit from both lineages). With a speed and violence that likely was not of human origin, he picked up the discarded tablet (and hopefully what little dignity he could in his embarrassment), and swung himself over the hood of the car and into the driver's seat.

He immediately revved the engine and sent the car shooting forward before even checking if the other two would-be passengers had actually followed his previous order.

Pissed as he was at the moment, they could crawl home for all _he_ cared!

A sudden thud against the back of his seat and pained "Oof!" sound as he swiftly accelerated off the road and started hovering, alerted his temporarily anger shrouded mind to the fact that Gwenny was definitely somewhere in the vicinity of the backseat.

"Crap, Dev! Just because you made a total spaz of yourself in front of my friends back there, doesn't give you an excuse to commit suicide by crashing your car into lord-knows-what with us in it!" She scrambled back into her seat and quickly buckled her seat belt before her psychotic cousin decided to pull another stupid stunt and really kill them.

Then she caught his eyes in the rear-view mirror (that thing was really stupid and superfluous, as the car had sensory technology to avoid collision with other objects) and added, "Besides, Sky and Brandy are _my_ age, _my _friends and thus, totally off limits to _you_!"

At the unbelievable audacity of this tiny, four feet eleven inch (seriously, he could have bench pressed her when he was ten) Asian American girl actually believing she could tell him what to do in his own freaking car. Not to mention, the adorably furious glare she was burning into his own jade orbs at the moment, Devlin just couldn't help but allow his anger to evaporate. He could and would however, _pretend_ just to see how angry he could actually get _her_. After all, almost _nothing_ was worth giving up the chance to get a rise out of Gwenny.

Kenny could already see the mischievous glint in his older cousin's eyes that his sister never seemed to notice when Devlin screwed with her head. This was going to be good. He fully turned in his passenger seat to catch the full show.

"First of all, Gwendolyn, if we crashed, which we won't, 'cause I've been driving since I was seven (okay, his mother _did not_ need to know that), you'd be the only one screwed, 'cause I can erect a manna shield around me and Kenny in less than a second. How long is something like that taking you now, huh, about a minute or so if you concentrate _really _hard?" He knew he hit a nerve there, especially when her eyes narrowed into furious slits.

Both Kenny and Gwen were fully human with no powers at all until his Uncle Ben had talked Azmuth into giving Kenny a genetic and psychological evaluation to see if he could have an Omnitrix after he turned ten.

The test results came back showing that Kenny was an almost perfect match for Ben's profile, so Azmuth conceded in allowing him an Omnitrix. Ironically, those same tests showed that anyone with Tennyson DNA could access it. Ergo, Devlin too, was granted voice command and he and Kenny started practicing using it together in some very interesting ways. This, of course, made Gwenny feel extremely left out, as she was the only 'normal' one in her generation.

However, right around the age of ten, she also developed signs of having an Anoditic spark. Unfortunately, it was so weak, her great-grandma Verdona made the cold, crushing determination that it wasn't even worth nourishing after assessing her. This blunt and cruel label hurt Gwenny terribly. Therefore, Devlin's mother had taken her under her wing and helped her develop what little ability she had. Even Devlin tried to give her tips on how she could expand her abilities, but she was too proud, independent and stubborn to accept _his_ help. She had to do it on her own or she felt weak, helpless. He could respect that. She still had an inferiority complex about it, though and Devlin had just capitalized on it.

"Second," Devlin continued as if he was completely oblivious to the fuming girl behind him "your skanky, fourteen year old, 'friends' were following_ me_ around like lost puppies. They didn't even have the guts to come up to me. So if _I _decided to strike, it would have been on _them_; not _me_." At this point, he paused briefly and tilted his head as if in deep thought before going in for the kill with a deathly serious glare to his cousin in the back seat. "You don't tease a tiger if you don't want something freaking bitten off!"

With this last statement, the laughter that erupted from his fifteen-year-old cousin in the passenger seat next to him was so contagious; Devlin couldn't keep up the façade of anger anymore and started chuckling himself.

I mean, the boy was literally tearing up and had both hands between his legs like he was going to wet himself!

Gwenny, on the other hand, was livid, "You unbelievable jerk! They're not skanks! They're I-N-N-O-C-E-N-T, a word you haven't known in years! For god-knows-what reason, they're curious about you. I told them to stay away from you! It's not their fault they're too naive to see you're POISON!"

At this, he sent a scathing glare back at her. That wasn't fair. He never hurt anybody on purpose. He was sixteen. He liked girls… a lot. He wasn't looking for the love of his life and he told every single girl he went out with that fact. They all agreed to it at first, but when things ran their course, they never wanted it to end amicably. These were teenage girls he was dealing with and he knew they were erratic, but what was he supposed to do? Stay with someone he felt nothing for? How was_ that_ fair to anybody? He did what he felt was right and honorable with every single girl he went out with and he always let them down easy. If he still had a bad reputation after that… to hell with it!

Gwen had her arms crossed and a smug grin plastered on her face at her cousin's angry expression. She had obviously won this round. She caught her brother's eyes as he turned fully to face her. The look he was sending her clearly said '_Not cool_', but she just rolled her eyes. Nobody should dish it, if they can't take it.

Kenny decided this was a good time to change the subject and definitely the mood in the vehicle. "So Dev, you wanna swing by Mr. Smoothy for me. I'm seriously craving a banana, kiwi, wheat-grass and sausage, Dude."

Devlin's face twisted in disgust at the grocery list of ingredients his cousin wanted to ingest in liquid form. Seriously, not even pregnant women on their worst days craved what the Tennyson men liked to mix in a blender.

"We can't go anywhere. Mom says you have to drop me off at karate class... she'll pick me up after."

Okay, now Kenny was getting angry. He hated anybody getting in between him and a smoothie, especially his overbearing, bratty baby sister! "What do you need Karate for anyway? Aunt Gwen is teaching you to control your powers!"

Gwenny just regarded her older brother as if she was explaining the simplest thing to a retarded child. "I _need_ it because_ I'm_ worth as much as either of _you_ in ransom money and out of the three of us, I'm the weakest. Whom do you think they'd go after, huh? Muscle Man here," she gestured to the driver of the car, "was born super powered and still takes martial arts classes, which, by the way, I know he's been teaching _you_ for years. So if I want to make an effort to be in a better position to defend myself against some idiot with a grudge against Dad and not enough balls to take it to him personally but just enough cowardice to go after the weakest of his children, you better freaking support me!"

At the unflappable logic of her explanation, Kenny sulked back in his seat defeated and crossed his arms with a petulant pout as Devlin steered the car in the direction of Gwenny's dojo. He felt bad for the kid. He'd always wanted siblings, but dealing with his cousin Gwen all the time had to be tough. That was probably why Kenny always hung out at _his_ place.

However, not even, _he_ expected what came out of Kenny's mouth next, and some stupid things had come out of that boy's mouth before.

"God, Gwen! What's up with the emotional trip today? Are you on the rag or something?"

Devlin's eyes shot to the size of saucers and an audible, shocked, gasp escaped his gaping lips at the unbelievably insensitive, ignorant and even slightly chauvinistic crap that had just flown out of his cousin's mouth. Did this kid seriously not think at all before he uttered these little gems of his?

Devlin had no sisters, no steady girlfriends and the ratio of testosterone to estrogen in the Levin household, definitely tipped in testosterone's favor; but even _he_ knew… _never_ ask_ that _question _that_ way to a _female_.

"STOP. THE. CAR. AND. LET. ME. OUT."

Devlin could hear the angry tears in the girl's trembling voice, but he didn't dare venture a look back at her. He did however; look for a safe place to pull over while he tried to dissuade her from her brash course of action. "Gwenny, sweetheart, you know he's an idiot don't do this!" Then he turned to Kenny, "Apologize to her, moron!" However, as soon as Ken turned to face her, she slapped him square in the face and screamed again.

"LET ME OUT OF THIS FREAKING CAR, DEVLIN!"

At this last command, Devlin had found a reasonably save place to hover. He pulled his seat forward and opened his door.

Gwenny immediately jumped out the open door, activated her hover board so that it would open and flew away in the direction of her dojo.

The boys just stared after her for a moment before Devlin finally ventured, "Did the bitch-slap hurt?"

"Amazingly, yes! Even if she has, like, no strength whatsoever, when she catches you completely off guard like that... it really stings!"

Devlin had to chuckle at that.

"You know she's going to tell your mom, right?"

"Yup."

"You are aware you're totally hosed?"

"For sure."

"Wanna go hang out at my house before the execution?"

"Swing us by Mr. Smoothy, first?"

"Of course. I wouldn't deny a condemned man his final wish."

With that, Devlin started up the engine again and headed for his cousin/best friend's favorite shop.

"You know what Dev?" The raven-haired teen turned his green eyes at his cousin who had a very downtrodden look on his face.

"What, Kenny?"

"You suck at consolations, Dude."

**A/N: Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: This is for Sammyantha221** **who was my very first reviewer ever! Please note, to anyone who reads this story, I will add a new chapter from now on every 10 reviews or every other week (which ever comes first). Sound fair?**

**Disclaimer:Man of Action owns all the Ben 10 characters I love!**

**Please Enjoy and Review!**

The Levin household was modest certainly when compared to the Ben 10 headquarters building Kenny's family inhabited. Kevin and Gwendolyn Levin didn't need the same level of security as the 'Savior of the Universe' and his family.

Yes. They were Plumbers and that came with the dangers all law enforcers dealt with but the threat was nowhere near on the scale Ben dealt with. Their lives were also slightly more diversified than Gwen's cousin.

Where Ben had chosen to become earth's full time law enforcer and do Plumbers' work on the side, leaving little time for anything else besides his family (and even that was strained at times with his busy schedule); the Levins where both full time Plumbers and held consulting positions within the U.S. government when they weren't on missions.

Gwen, having earned a political sciences degree from Harvard, became an ambassador and aide to the White House. Kevin had attended and graduated from M.I.T. while Gwen was in college in a continued effort to be as close to her as possible. He didn't even really care about the education. He just wanted to make sure some rich, spoiled, blow-hard didn't try anything with Gwen.

His astronomical knowledge of alien tech, however, aided him in getting an advanced engineering degree and his association with Colonel Rossum, got him noticed by the U.S. Department of Defense. He became one of the foremost technological advisers on their research and development team.

In essence, their house was modest because it fit their needs and with their full schedules, they spent most of their time elsewhere. Why invest in something unnecessary and underused?

All they really cared about was location. Therefore, they had it built in one of the few suburbs left in South Dakota near Mt. Rushmore where the Plumbers' base they reported to was.

The Levins made the decision to move here from Bellwood when Ben had his headquarters constructed very close to Mt. Rushmore to be close to the Plumbers' base as well.

The home itself was custom built to their taste in a single-story 'Ranch' style.

It had a large chef's kitchen as Gwen had discovered the deeply therapeutic properties of cooking while in college.

It had a large dining room that easily accommodated forty (family gatherings were always held at the Levins').

Off the foyer was an impressive library, which also housed Kevin's home office on one side and an elegant lounge and family room on the other.

The house had four master suites; each with its own bathroom and another full bath and powder room for guests in the living area.

The largest two rooms in the main house, and Kevin's favorites, were the game room and the theater room. Both housed his gigantic and ever diversifying collection of 'toys'.

The main house was located above a basement level, which Kevin designed to be a 'workout' space. It sectioned into a gym for tamer workouts and a holographic simulator room for training in real-life scenarios against holographic opponents.

Overall, including the basement and the four-car garage, the house was about 6500 square feet.

This size may not have seemed modest to most people, but to Kenny whose home was a skyscraper, this was downright cozy.

The boys were currently hanging out in Devlin's room.

Kenny was sprawled belly down on Devlin's bed, eating pretzels and slurping loudly on his smoothie while reading manga on his holo-tablet. He was supposed to be doing homework; but he figured he'd have plenty of time for that once his mother grounded him and every function _but_ homework was locked out of every device he had access to.

Devlin sat at his desk working on one of his 'projects'.

Being highly intelligent translated into an almost ever-existent boredom. Therefore, Devlin had found ways of constantly keeping either his mind or hands occupied since he was very young.

Currently, he sported goggles and was busying himself with soldering the delicate microchips for the temporal relays into a device he had manufactured. In theory, it should create a small, stable vortex, which someone could use to travel to different realities in cross-time.

This 'project' had kept him entertained for well over two years and he was exhilarated to be finally done with it.

He was just putting in all the fail-saves so nothing could go wrong with his trial run.

Devlin finished the final calibrations and removed the goggles as he replaced the casing and admired his work.

The device was fashioned out of an interstellar communicator, so it was small enough to be hand-held. When he tapped the screen, the holographic display appeared and he typed in a random set of coordinates in the space-time continuum.

Devlin couldn't contain the smug, self-satisfied smile that graced his features as the device made a hum indicating a positive lock. The physics and fifth dimensional math it took to program the device was well beyond anything they taught in high school; certainly, well beyond what he was 'learning' in his advanced placement trigonometry class.

Kevin and Gwen were well aware that Devlin probably shouldn't even be in school anymore, but normal social interaction with other children his age was healthy and they all knew that.

So, he went to high school like any other teenager and took only advanced placement classes in the hopes that he could finish college early and go into the Plumbers' academy as soon as possible.

Devlin knew an earth education was important to his mother. He was willing to humor her, but all he wanted was to become a Plumber and gain a rank like his dad. Maybe, most people would consider that unambitious for someone like him but he was actually a pretty simple guy. He wanted simple things.

A knock at the door to the bedroom alerted both occupants to Gwen's arrival at the Levin residence (no one else who lived here had the etiquette to knock). Then the door slid open and in walked the beautiful thirty-eight year old ginger with a disapproving scowl aimed at her first cousin, once removed (who she considered her nephew, seeing as she saw Ben as a brother more than a cousin) sprawled out on her son's bed staring back at her.

"Hey, Aunt Gwen", Kenny greeted sheepishly. Noting the look of disapproval on her flawless countenance, she knew already.

"Mom, you don't have to knock to come in here."

Her son's matter-of-fact statement caused her to suspend her ire at Kenny momentarily and saunter playfully over to where he sat at his desk, instead.

"What if you had a girl in here?" She challenged with a coy grin while crossing her arms and leaning on his desk.

"Yeah right, Ma. You could sense if I had a girl in here from a mile out! Why do you think I love my car, especially the backseat?" Devlin shot her that trademark Levin bad boy smirk that melted all the ladies.

Unfortunately for Devlin, that smirk didn't work on Gwendolyn Levin even when _Kevin_ used it and she certainly was not smiling at her son's comment. Her voice actually held an undertone of danger to it as she spoke again. "Explain to me, Devlin, why do you like the backseat of your car so much?"

Devlin noticeably paled at the unspoken threat in his mother's question (quite a feat, considering his characteristic pallor) and shrunk into his seat at the scrutinizing glare in her emerald eyes.

"Come on, Ma. You know I don't do that!" He could feel the embarrassing heat rising up his neck at the turn this little chat had taken.

"Do I?" Gwen pressed. She wasn't letting this subject drop.

Devlin had expressed his intentions to stay abstinent to her and Kevin when they had 'the talk' a couple of years back. He said he wanted to give himself entirely… body, mind and soul, to the girl he loved enough to marry.

She was so proud of him for that. Nevertheless, had he lied to them? Had her son, needlessly, looked her in the eyes and lied to her... just to ingratiate himself to them? She had to know.

Devlin was increasingly uncomfortable under his mothers waiting gaze. This was a private conversation she had decided to conduct in front of his cousin!

His eyes shot almost pleadingly to Kenny who was sitting Indian style on the bed with his elbows propped on his thighs and his head supported by his knuckles. He had an attentive grin on his face as he enjoyed the little exchange between mother and son.

Devlin's eyes narrowed into a sneer; clearly communicating to the brunette, '_I'm going to disembowel you for enjoying this, you jerk!_' Then, his jade eyes turned back to lock with his mother's expectant gaze once again.

Then, suddenly, he remembered what should have been obvious from the start of this awkwardness and his eyes glowed magenta as he established a telepathic link to his mother. _'I really don't do that; a lot of pretty hard core making out goes on and a lot of groping. Nobody looses any clothing…Oh! And it's happened with well over a dozen girls.'_

At Gwen's skeptical expression, Devlin shot up his hands in a show of both frustration and defeat. _'God, Mom! If you don't believe me, probe my mind! I won't block you, go ahead!'_

At the sincerity of his words and offer, Gwen finally relented and broke the link. She wasn't going to be a hypocrite and chastise her son over his confession, even if she didn't like his insinuated track record. She and Kevin had done worse in the backseat of his car at Devlin's age. They'd never done _it_ before they were married; but articles of clothing definitely came off. "Okay, sweetheart, but don't you ever dare lie to me or your dad." Having said that, she reached out and swept back Devlin's bangs while leaning forward to place a kiss on his fore head.

Devlin attempted to hide his blush at the loving gesture by snorting out, "Yeah right! As if I could actually, ever get away with lying to _you_… Dad maybe."

Gwen smacked him on the shoulder playfully and pretended the gesture hadn't stung as much as it did, as she giggled.

"Hey! What just happened? It looked like I was gonna witness a good old fashioned spanking. Then, you both go all glowy eyes and, next thing I see, you're gushing all over each other. What gives? Boo! Bad sport! Boo!" Kenny was grimacing like the idiot he often pretended to be and waving double thumbs down in the air.

"The only one getting 'spanked', Kenneth is _you_ by your father when you get home!"

Gwen now remembered why she arrived home angry with the boy she considered her nephew. "Did you seriously ask your sister if she was being emotional because of her time of the month?"

"Actually mom," Devlin helpfully supplied with an evil smirk and undeniable satisfaction at getting payback on his cousin, "the exact phrase was, 'are you on the rag or something?' "

Gwen snapped angry, shocked eyes back at Kenny who had thrown himself backwards on the bed and was currently trying to smother himself with one of the pillows. "Are you on drugs, Kenny?" This wasn't even her kid, yet Gwen had to use a great deal of self-control to keep from getting physical with him.

When Kenny spoke, the pillow muffled his voice. "I'm not on drugs, Aunt Gwen. I was pissed 'cause Gwenny wouldn't let me get a smoothie. I wasn't trying to hurt her feelings. I was just venting without thinking and my over-creative mind came up with that. Crap like that happens when I get so angry. My mind goes blank.

"Apparently, the kid's mind goes blank a lot; must be some genetic defect from Tennyson." Kevin was now leaning on the doorframe with a carton of ice cream and a spoon.

"Hey, Dad!" Devlin greeted from his position at his desk.

Kevin's response was to salute him using the spoon.

Kenny pulled the pillow off his face and sat up regarding the new arrival. "Thanks a lot for the vote of confidence, Uncle Kevin!"

"Hey kid, don't give me material and expect me not to use it." Kevin shoved another spoonful of chocolate ice cream in his mouth. Then, he pulled it out slowly and stared at it contemplative. After this he quirked up a thick, dark, questioning eyebrow at his nephew on the bed. "So, I hear you're giving sensitivity lessons now?"

Devlin burst out laughing so hard it actually physically hurt. Kevin was the best at rubbing humiliation in. Even Gwen had to bring up a hand to cover up an escaping giggle.

Kenny just put his face in both hands and groaned.

"Kevin its four o'clock in the afternoon, dinner's in three hours. You're going to ruin your appetite!" Gwen made a grab for the carton of ice cream, but Kevin quickly shoved the spoon inside and stretched the container high above his head.

Even in heels, she was easily a foot shorter than he was; add to that, the wingspan of his long arms and there was no way, she was going to be able to reach. "I can eat again in three hours," he grinned tauntingly at her.

"You're a fine example for the boys, you know that? Now, give me that!" She leapt forward trying to make a grab for the carton, when a lightning quick arm wrapped around her and crushed her to a chiseled, rock hard, torso while still in mid jump.

Gwen's mind barely registered the surprised squeal that escaped her lips before the sound squelched by Kevin's mouth assaulting hers; his tongue infiltrating her mouth until all she could register was the tingling in her stomach and the taste of chocolate.

"Guys, seriously? Right in front of us?"

"Shut it, Dude! That's kinda hot!"

"Hey, Sicko! Those are my folks! They're your kin, man! That's just wrong, on so many levels!"

The sound of her son and nephew's bickering over what she was doing with her husband, broke Gwen out of her lust filled stupor and she gently pulled away from the kiss while still keeping their noses touching, as Kevin still held her a good foot from the floor and crushed to his body.

She sent him a chastising look that clearly said, '_you shouldn't do that to me in front of the kids_'. Kevin simply smiled back at her and returned a look that conveyed, '_I couldn't possibly care less what the kids think_'.

Gwen swallowed hard to clear the lump in her throat that smile had lodged in there. "Kevin, could you put me down?" Her voice sounded far too needy for her liking, at that moment.

Kevin noticed. He chuckled deep in his throat, kissed her nose and leaned down so her feet touched the ground. He didn't, however, release his hold on her waist; effectively both keeping her from turning and snuggling her very close to his very responsive body. She looked up at him with a quizzical look that caused one perfectly arched eyebrow to raise high on her forehead. However, he was already addressing Kenny.

"I'm guessing you're hiding out here 'til things cool off at the Tennysons'. Don't think 'cause you're here, you're getting away with what you pulled earlier, Kid. You're under house arrest. You can't leave this room unless_ I_ say so." Kenny's eyes went wide with apprehension and he sat up, ramrod straight on the bed at the prospect of being punished by his Uncle, of all people.

Kevin noted Kenny's reaction and actually drew a degree of satisfaction in the fear he knew he could instill in the boy as he continued, "Everything remotely interesting to you has been deactivated from every device within this room. So, pretty much, you can do homework or you can study, that's it."

"That," Kevin gestured to the wall opposite the bed, which had a wall unit full of Devlin's books and knick-knacks, "is a retractable spare bed. Tomorrow's Friday and a teacher planning day, so you have no school. If you wish to stay the weekend under these conditions, you're welcome to. Otherwise, get out of my house and Tennyson can deal with you however, he sees fit. Is that clear?"

Kenny was terrified at this point. He was sure anything his dad would come up with in the form of a punishment would pale in comparison to what Uncle Kevin had planned for him; but here, at least, he had Devlin.

"Y-yes, sir," came the shaky reply.

Gwen was smiling up at Kevin, now. Her arms, as of their own accord, finding themselves wrapped tightly around his torso. She just found it so sexy when his military training kicked in and he used that no-nonsense, authoritative tone.

Kevin was exceedingly feeling the need to end this. He doubted Gwen realized what she was doing to him. It was very difficult to keep his line of thought straight enough to dish out the discipline the child needed when Gwen was this close, smiling at him, touching him.

He needed to get her somewhere more private, now! He tried to clear his head of these thoughts as he spoke again.

"Good. Dinner's at seven o'clock, after which you will call your baby sister on the holo-viewer and apologize in front of all those present. Is that clear?"

'_Oh, God! What was his Uncle doing to him?_'

Despite the threat of impending humiliation witnessed by his entire extended family, Kenny found the paralyzing fear and respect he felt for the man standing at the door to the room, gently holding his aunt and expectantly locking his obsidian gaze with his controlling his responses as if he no longer had a will of his own.

"Yes, sir!" '_Did that come out of me?_'

"Alright, then; now that that's settled, you boys have fun! See ya at dinner!" Kevin said this in a completely different, playful tone and with all the previous vestiges of seriousness draining from his countenance to be replaced with a franticly jovial expression (which was honestly, very disturbing and creepy). Then he left with a giggling Gwen in his arms, letting the door slide shut behind them.

Kenny just sat there and stared at the door, dumbfounded for a second before turning his haunted green eyes to his cousin.

"Dude, is your dad insane?"

Devlin just shrugged.

**A/N:Please Review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I know I said I would update every two weeks but I wanted to get this out and move on to the next one. Also, I've decided the quality of the reviews I've gotten and of my readers overall is more important to me than the quantity**. **Although, that does**_** not**_** mean I don't want input. Your words drive me to continue this story. This chapter is only meant as a transition to the next one so it's not my best work; but it is necessary. **

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Man of Action owns Ben 10 and all the characters in the series. I'm only borrowing them because they are awesome!**

It didn't take long for it to dawn on Devlin that his father had grounded him right along side Kenny but it took far longer than someone of his intellect _should_ take.

His first clue should've been the fact that his father had enforced his cousin's lock-down within _his_ room when the Levins had two currently unoccupied spare bedrooms in the house. Unfortunately, for Devlin he was enjoying his cousin's torture at the hands of his father far too much at the time to notice this helpful little tidbit.

No. The realization came later, after his parents had left and his cousin had walked over to the seemingly normal wall unit on the wall at the far end of the room, next to the hallway leading to the bathroom.

It looked like a normal unassuming bookshelf but as Kenny tapped a glowing, squared, indentation on its surface, the bottom swooshed open and out emerged a comfy looking queen bed, complete with four pillows and a comforter.

Kenny immediately dropped himself on its soft surface, grabbed a pillow to prop up his head and turned to his cousin who was watching him from his desk.

"What am I supposed to do locked up in here for three days?"

"Contemplate the error of your ways." Came Devlin's snide, teasing remark.

Kenny narrowed his green eyes at his dark haired cousin into a withering sneer, which considering the overall shape to Kenny's eyes, all but made the green in them disappear. Devlin pretended not to notice as he sauntered over to his bed, picked up his TV control pad off his nightstand and plopped down.

He laid the pad on his stomach as he put one hand behind his head, which leaned against a pillow in an over-exaggerated show of how comfortable he was. All the while, he continued looking smugly at the brown-haired teen that was shooting him a death glare. "I, on the other hand, am going to watch TV."

Devlin snickered at the aggravated grunt that escaped his cousin as he activated the device and a sixty-inch projection appeared above his bed. He began flipping through the channels and a look of deep consternation settled on his features as he realized everything except C-Span was blocked.

'_What teenager watches C-Span? Oh Crap!_'

The devastating reality of his current situation began to dawn on Devlin at this impasse. He quickly turned off the TV and swung out of bed, heading for the computer on his desk.

"What's wrong Devy? Toys won't work for you either?"

Devlin ignored his annoying cousin's sarcastic, singsong remark as he navigated through screen after screen of 'Access Denied' messages on his computer. Finally, he gave up and shut the whole thing off, frustrated.

"Argh!" he slammed his hand down on the desk hard enough to break both the table and his hand (had he been fully human and the table been made out of any substance found on earth). His parents had learned early on, that normal furniture didn't survive his temper tantrums and had furnished his room accordingly. "I can't freaking believe this!"

He turned furious, determined green eyes to his cousin who had jumped so far off the bed when he slammed his hand down; he had landed in a sitting position and was staring at him with a half worried, half frightened expression. "Stay here! I'm getting to the bottom of this!" Then, he was out the door in an angry flash and practically sprinting down the hallway in search of his parents.

He found them in the kitchen. His father was standing behind his mother with his arms around her waist as she was desperately trying to concentrate on the food preparation. Kevin was smirking and saying something close to her ear. The blush he saw blossoming on his mother's face as he approached spoke volumes of the fact that he was interrupting something.

Good.

If his father was going to mess with him…

"Why does none of the tech in my room respond to my access code either, Dad?" The statement wasn't a question so much as a demand for information and Devlin made sure to be loud enough to break up whatever little moment his parents were having. He angrily crossed his arms over his chest while positioning himself across the counter, directly in front of them.

Kevin wore an annoyed expression at the poorly timed interruption as he beheld the boy standing there looking extremely pissed (score one point for Devlin). However, when he spoke, he directed the comment at Gwen who was still in his arms though he stared directly into Devlin's eyes. His tone was deeply unimpressed.

"Huh? I always figured he was sharper than taking over fifteen minutes to figure out he'd been grounded. You figure we overestimated him?"

'_Seriously?_' Devlin couldn't believe this crap! Was his father seriously _mocking_ him? He could feel his rage rising with every second he stood there, glaring at his father.

Gwen turned her body as far as she could with her back to her husband and his arms wrapped around her and craned her delicate neck to send him a disapproving look. "Don't tease him, Kevin!"

Kevin just smirked evilly down at her.

'_What the…_ _Were they seriously ignoring his presence in this conversation_?' Devlin angrily waved his arms in front of his parents to gain their attention. "Hello! Yeah, the pissed off guy you're talking about as if he's not in the room? He's standing right in front of you! He can hear every word you are saying! Seriously, how rude _are _the two of you!"

His voice had actually risen an octave every other word he'd spoken and by the end; he'd been shouting.

Kevin was _not_ going to accept this level of insubordination from his son; regardless of how much he sympathized with him for having inherited his temper and the lack of control there of. His arms unwrapped from around his wife and he stepped beside her while laying his hands firmly on the counter. He used them as leverage to braise himself and lean forward slightly (Devlin was tall, but at sixteen, he was nowhere near full grown and even leaning slightly his father had at least six inches on him and was imposing), he sent his son what he knew was an intimidating glare.

"Watch the tone you use with your mother, Devlin." It had in no way, shape, or form, the intonation of a request. It was a command for both respect and an apology. Devlin blanched slightly as a tinge of fear and guilt mixed with his anger. He averted his eyes to the floor next to him, escaping his father's onyx gaze and let out a resigned sigh. "Sorry, Mom."

He didn't look up at her as he apologized however, much preferring that interesting spot on the floor but he did petulantly cross his arms again. He was, after all, only still a boy.

Gwen understood this as much as she understood Levin 'pride' and she knew he was very angry. Therefore, she infused as much of the smile that spread across her features as she could into her voice as she responded with a quick, "Accepted, sweetheart!" Then, moved to another part of the kitchen to continue her cooking and give her boys some modicum of privacy. This was, after all, mostly between her husband and her son now.

Judging from his son's posture, Kevin knew he was going to be difficult about this. He felt sorry for the kid, having to negotiate that pride and stubbornness. Lord knows, he knew exactly what that was like. He was so much like him it terrified him at times. His less endearing qualities had made his early life a nightmare. He refused to allow those same traits to screw up his son's life. Kevin had to learn everything the hard way. He would find a better way to teach his son. "You were trying to get him off easy after he did something hurtful to his baby sister."

Surprised, Devlin's confused jade eyes shot up to lock again with his father's. "What?"

"Why's Kenny here right now, Son?" Kevin really needed his boy to figure this out on his own. Ethics and a sense of justice were things that needed comprehension and acceptance on a personal level. He could only lead him so far…

Devlin was smart enough to figure out his father wanted him to come to some epiphany; but, for the life of him, had no idea what that may be. For that matter, he still didn't understand what exactly he had done to deserve this grounding! "Kenny's always here! He comes to get away from Gwenny when she drives him nuts!" This was obvious! What did his dad want from him?

Kevin saw the perfect opening in his son's response to get him to understand what he did to deserve his punishment. "Exactly Devlin. He comes here to avoid his sister. It's four thirty in the afternoon on a Thursday. Gwenny is at karate class and won't be home for at least a couple of hours. If Kenny had gone home, he didn't have to deal with his sister. He had to deal with his parents and the consequences of his earlier actions."

"Now, that kid acts like a selfish, self absorbed, ignoramus half the time. He's basically a carbon copy of his father at that age, believe me, we all remember. But, he's no coward. Kenny would have faced his punishment head on like he just did a moment ago and he would have apologized to his little sister, as he will tonight. So, I ask you again, Devlin, why is Kenny here? Whose idea was it for him to come here instead of going home after all this happened in your car?"

The 'epiphany' his father had so wished upon him, hit Devlin like a ton of bricks. He hadn't even given it a second thought until now. Subconsciously, he_ knew_ the longer he kept his best friend away from his sister and parents, the more likely they were to get over their initial shock and anger which would greatly decrease the amount of retribution the boy would receive. He _was_ trying to get his cousin off easy after Kenny had idiotically, hurt Gwenny with his stupid remark.

Dread and guilt settled in the pit of his stomach as he slumped into one of the counter stools dejectedly and rubbed the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes shortly. At the very least, he could try to plead his case for leniency. "Isn't three days a little harsh? I mean, I'm an accessory after the fact at best!"

Kevin had to laugh at this. The kid really was exactly like him! Did he really think he could con a con man? Nah. The boy _needed_ discipline as bad as he did at his age. _He_ was fortunate enough to have come across Max Tennyson. He had become his father figure, the person he turned to in situations like this. Devlin was fortunate enough to have _him_, his real father, when he needed to be set straight. He wasn't going to let his son down, whether the kid wanted it or not.

"Consider yourself fortunate you are allowed to leave your room, Kid. That's a far cry from what the little moron in there's getting." Devlin raised an eyebrow considering this. The ability to be ambulatory, at least within the house, was definitely an advantage Kenny didn't have. This could be useful to him. He felt a cautious optimism slowly mix in with his guilt. "Plus, your mother talked me into letting you use your car since you gotta go get him some clothes if he's staying here the weekend. No one needs to see a repeat of what happened at our last family reunion." Kevin grimaced in disgust at the memory and Devlin mirrored his gesture almost to a tee.

The last family reunion was on a Saturday. Kenny had been to the dentist to have his wisdom teeth removed the previous Friday afternoon and he was, understandably, in a lot of pain. His parents offered to miss the party at the Levins so he could stay home and heal but Kenny felt bad about his parents missing out, so he said he'd tough it out. He'd taken his pain meds in the morning and headed out with his parents and baby sister. Two hours later, he was in excruciating pain again. So, he read the prescription bottle, which said, 'Take one pill every four hours if pain persists'. Well, Kenny figured the party would last another... What? Ten hours? So, in his infinite wisdom, he figured he would preempt the pain by taking three pills at once.

End of story? Kenny spent the next six hours tripping off his rocker! This culminated with him stripping butt naked and running through the congregated masses of family members yelling, "My wee-wee's gone! Oh God! I can't feel it! Where did you put it? GIVE ME BACK MY WEE-WEE!" This continued until Ben and Kevin chased him down and wrapped him in a blanket, much to both his parents mortification. They promptly drove him home, still chanting incoherently.

Kevin and Devlin both shuddered at the memory in unison. "Yeah, I definitely, gotta go get him something to wear." Kevin immediately deadpanned, "Please!"

Both Levin males where silent a moment before Kevin let out a sigh and looked deep into his son's eyes, assuming a more parental countenance. "I understand it's in your nature to protect everyone you care about. It's instinct to you; second nature. You don't even realize you do it, but you have to learn that protecting someone from the discipline necessary to better themselves, will ultimately only hurt them. Kenny needs this. He's too brash. He never thinks ahead further than five seconds. He's been treating his baby sister like crap… even before the car incident. He needs some tough love to get his head on straight and if you're really his best friend, you'll ride this out with him."

Devlin had to avert his eyes to the counter at his father's final statement. No one laid a guilt trip on quite as thick as Kevin Levin did. He couldn't look the man in the eyes anymore. Not when he knew what he was already concocting in his head. He already felt guilty for trying to get Kenny off the hook. Now, he had the added guilt of disappointing his father with what he _knew_ he was planning to do.

"I should really go now to pick up that stuff for Kenny, so I can make it back by dinner, okay?" Devlin didn't meet his father's eyes through the entire statement as he moved away from the counter and down the hall toward the entryway. He was gone without another word.

Gwen now moved from where she had been standing silently listening to the exchange and wrapped her arms around her husband from behind.

"That didn't go too bad." She leaned her cheek into his broad back, holding herself flush against his body.

Kevin allowed himself a moment to relish the contact of his wife holding him so close. He'd noticed his son's lack of eye contact. He knew exactly what it meant.

'_He's so much like me._' "Of course it went well. He's already trying to figure out how he's breaking himself and the runt out of the room."

"What?" Gwen pulled back confused and a little shocked by his blunt statement.

Kevin just turned to face her and brought her close with his arms. He smiled down at her. She looked positively, adorable with that naïve, questioning look on her face. "That's what _I'd_ be doing." When her expression changed to outraged and questioning he quickly added, "How far from the tree do you think that particular apple fell, Gwen?"

Her semblance immediately changed to one of understanding and acceptance. "So, aren't you going to try to stop him?"

Kevin looked at her like she had two heads. "Stop him from doing what? He's free to come and go as he pleases and you let him use the car. Ben's brat is the only one actually stuck in there and both the bio scanners and the manna dampeners are up around that room. Kenny can't set foot outside while the scanners are up and Devlin can't teleport him out while the dampeners are operational. He would have to abandon the kid. We both know he's not capable of doing that to his best friend. He's going to have to suck this one up. It's really Devlin's own fault for getting himself punished so many times over the years…we've learned all his moves."

Gwen couldn't help but smile up at her husband's deviousness. She felt somewhat bad for Kenny and Devlin.

The rest of the night went pretty normal, considering the two teenagers in the house were pretty much prisoners. Devlin returned with an overnight bag from his Aunt Julie and a renewed anger at his situation. Gwenny hadn't been home yet when he passed by the headquarters but he did see his Uncle Ben who'd questioned him about Kenny's health as if the prospect of Kevin _disciplining_ his son terrified him.

"Dad's not going to physically torture Kenny, Uncle Ben. He just has him under what he calls 'house arrest'. No leaving the room. No TV. No computer. No games. Nothing but homework or studying for three days… Oh yeah, and he grounded me, too."

Ben let out a slow whistle and slapped a consoling hand on his nephew's back. "What'd he get you for?"

"I tried to get Kenny off easy by hiding him out at our house." Devlin replied sheepishly.

"Huh," Ben quirked his eyebrows in reprimand at his nephew.

Devlin rolled his eyes aggravated at his uncle's attempt to add even more guilt to his already guilt-saturated conscience. "At least, I didn't get away with it!"

"Yeah, I suppose Kevin wouldn't let you get away with that… So… why are you here if you're punished, too?" Ben asked obviously. He was pretty sure children who were grounded were not supposed to be out and about, riding in their cars.

Devlin shrugged exasperatedly. "I don't know Uncle Ben. Maybe my dad's sick idea of punishing me is locking my best friend in my room while letting me roam free completely helpless to get him out, but totally not wanting to be stuck in there with him!"

Ben and Devlin suddenly locked eyes in realization and his uncle flashed him an even more sympathetic stare.

"Yep. That definitely sounds like Kevin."

Ergo, when Devlin arrived back home, he was no longer riddled with the guilt that was making him think twice about using the device on the desk in his room which he knew was tantamount to jilting his father's faith in him. Now, he was angry and Devlin's anger made him vindictive and calculating. His anger also tended to make his sense of right and wrong slightly askew.

There was no way he was spending three days locked up with his cousin, not when he had the perfect way out! He'd figured everything out on the drive back home. He'd play it cool tonight. Tomorrow, however, his parents had to go to work. His father would set the sensors and the dampeners to his room before he left.

That meant that after breakfast, Kenny was confined to his room until they got home… five or six hours later. They'd even made him responsible for getting the poor kid lunch or he'd starve!

Okay. That was an overstatement, but Kenny was pretty much, hosed. Devlin had to get the kid out for at least a few hours. The punishment would still work if it was enforced for two days instead of three. A tiny voice somewhere in the back of Devlin's mind told him his anger was clouding his judgment, but he resolutely ignored it. He was going to get Kenny out. That'd show his old man.

* * *

><p>-Later That Evening-<p>

The boys sat on Devlin's bed as he explained his device to his cousin.

"Basically, we would be able to visit alternate versions of everyone in different timelines. All I have to do is enter the spatial coordinates and wait for a positive lock. Then I open a portal and lock onto a familiar manna signature, like say, an alternate Julie Yamamoto or Gwendolyn Tennyson. Then we use that signature to triangulate our jump into that reality and track down that person so we can see what they're like. We have to remember, though, to never interact with anyone or let anyone see us. It could disrupt the flow of space and time. That's why we'll use the cloak generators Dad has in the garage to stay hidden. We'll only stay in any one reality for about an hour, so we can go to about four. Any more and we risk Mom and Dad finding us gone. I've used _this _reality as the gate generator's default; as a result, we'll end up here when we're done."

Kenny tried to absorb all of this information most of which was way over his head. "Won't the bio scanners alert your dad that I'm not in the room anymore?"

Devlin looked at his cousin as if he'd asked the stupidest question ever. "The sensors aren't in here, moron. Otherwise, you'd set them off every time you peed or when you showered earlier."

Kenny shot him an insulted glare, the dark-haired boy waved off as he continued, "The sensors are in the hallway and outside. As long as we open the portal in here, we're undetectable."

Forgetting his previous annoyance with Devlin, (he had the attention span of a two year old) Kenny started getting excited about this little experiment. "When do we leave?"

"Half an hour after Mom and Dad go to work."

"What if they call to check on us?"

Devlin had actually planned for that one. "I don't react, particularly, well to being grounded thanks to inheriting my dad's temperament. It was obvious tonight that I was pretty pissed being stuck in here all weekend."

Kenny had to agree with that, wholeheartedly. Devlin had not spoken a single word throughout dinner or afterwards when they conferred with his family and he'd apologized to Gwenny, who had still looked visibly upset. He actually really felt awful about what he said to her. His thoughts of his sister were interrupted as Devlin continued speaking. "Even if my folks called, they'd expect the same silent treatment. I've done it before. It won't faze them.

Kenny now thought of something else. "How will we get around?"

Devlin didn't skip a beat. "Hover boards. You still have yours and I'll take mine."

His worries having been sufficiently placated, Kenny was now jumping with excitement on Devlin's bed. He acted nowhere near fifteen years old.

"Dude! Go to sleep! We have a long day tomorrow!"

At his older cousin's annoyed command, the younger brunette ran giggling like a little girl to his bed and tucked himself under the covers, shuddering with anticipation.

Devlin just huffed out an aggravated sigh, turned the lamp on his nightstand off and pulled the covers over himself. He had one last amusing yet unnerving thought before drifting off to sleep.

Kenny was an idiot.

**A/N:Please Review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to my amazing little niece Brianne; who is so very much like me and my adorable little nephew Brandon. Also (although she'll probably never see this: Congratulations Dania and Enrique! The wedding party was awesome!) I want to thank everyone who has reviewed this.**

**By the way, my updating schedule is out the window… the chapters will be out as soon as I can type them. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Ben 10 characters because they belong to Man of Action; but I can live with it as long as they let me borrow them for my twisted purposes!**

**Enjoy!**

The teenagers chose to dress comfortably for their experiment. It was late September, so the weather was neither too warm nor too cold out. Devlin was wearing comfortable boot cut, dark-wash, jeans, black combat boots and a high collared, sleeveless, black, button-down muscle shirt. Over that, he sported his gray, sleeveless hoodie.

The hoodie had been his dad's once. However, a few years ago, his mom had gone through the garage to give stuff to the needy and he'd found it in a box of his dad's old clothes. He thought it'd be perfect for working out but the sleeves were too cumbersome, so he tore them off… literally. He was so pleased with the end effect that he kept the article of clothing as a normal jacket. He liked the 'retro' feel it gave his modern clothing.

Kenny was also dressed in a comfortable pair of jeans, only his were a lighter wash. He wore a dark green, high collared, button-down shirt and black sneakers. Over this was his omnipresent 'Ben 10' motorcycle jacket. Though his was different from the one his dad had sported at his age (his dad's was in a shrine somewhere). Kenny's jacket was black with the stripe that ran across one side being white. The '10' numeral etched on it was dark green.

The jacket would have made him look conspicuous, had it not been for the fact that almost everyone wore his father's paraphernalia nowadays. Honestly, Kenny would have forgone wearing it for a couple of hours but they were trying to hide their identities and this article of clothing did a nice job of hiding the Omnitrix on his wrist.

Thus far, the cross-time traveling duo had visited three alternate realities.

The first was a universe where Devlin's mother had the Omnitrix and never developed her Anodyte abilities.

In spite of this, though, Devlin was able to use her manna signature to home in on her. It didn't _feel_ exactly the same but it was unmistakably Gwendolyn Tennyson.

In that reality, she never met his dad, so he didn't exist (which was kind of a bummer). He consoled himself in the fact that Kenny didn't exist either. Uncle Ben was his mom's sidekick and they were both too consumed with hero work to have families. Not that it would have made that much of a difference in that version of Ben's case. He was obviously effeminate which horrified Kenny to no end and had Devlin rolling on the floor with laughter. They followed that version of Gwendolyn and Benjamin Tennyson's antics for about an hour before deciding to check out a second reality.

The second place they visited, Devlin couldn't get a lock on anyone, which stroked his curiosity. They only stayed a minute.

In this desolate reality, Earth was a wasteland and everything looked as though it had been aged a thousand years. It was so depressing. They had to get out of there.

The third reality and the one they currently explored looked much like where they came from. Only it seemed… darker, somehow. Devlin was trying to pinpoint his father's signature this time. Both he and Kenny had decided not to go any more places where he couldn't home in on at least one familiar signature after the last place they had been. Devlin inwardly shuddered at the fresh memory.

They were hover boarding through what looked like the warehouse district tracking the manna signature that felt so alien to him for some reason. It was starting to unnerve him.

It was definitely Kevin Levin but _felt_ like it wasn't. Devlin had never felt anything like it. Oh well, he'd figure it out when he found him, he guessed.

Suddenly, two creatures identical to Uncle Ben and Kenny's 'Stinkfly' transformation along with a raven haired teenager on a hover board zoomed past the building directly ahead of them and blasted into a an old, abandoned-looking warehouse about a block away.

Kenny immediately whipped his face around to give Devlin an excited smile. "You think that was…?"

Devlin immediately activated his cloak generator indicating to Kenny he should do the same and shot towards the now gaping hole on the side of the large warehouse. He looked back a second to smirk at his cousin who was right on his heels (they'd made sure to synchronize the frequency of their cloaking fields to each other so that they could still see one another and remain invisible to the rest of their surroundings). "Only one way to find out!"

Entering the warehouse was like going into some strange war zone. All chaos was breaking loose in there. Fourarms and XLR8 were fighting what looked to Kenny and Devlin like a chimerical amalgams of every single alien they had ever known.

As they watched, the dark haired teen they had seen before and whose back was now facing way from them also transformed into an amalgam only his body seemed made up of only ten different species of aliens. After transforming, he also jumped into the fray.

In the ensuing cacophony of flying punches, whipping tentacles, pincers, kicks, shooting fire, ice, lasers, electric bolts, energy blasts and plummeting bodies, Devlin put a hand on his cousin's shoulder and silently motioned with his head to a dark corner of the large warehouse behind a metal crate big enough to house a car.

They quickly dodged there, avoiding a myriad of varying projectiles along the way. The crate offered relative protection but still allowed for a good vantage point of the ongoing battle. Once Kenny caught his breath he shakily ventured, "Who are they?"

Devlin's eyes instantly glowed magenta as he tried to identify the individual manna signatures. "XLR8 is you, Fourarms is your dad, that smaller _thing_…," as he gestured to the smallest amalgams he shuddered so visibly, anyone would have noticed, "Is me." He said the last part in a whisper as if it were a curse. He was seriously reconsidering the wisdom in encountering alternate versions of themselves now. He was a monster here.

As they continued to watch the fight, the largest amalgams sent out an incredibly powerful power surge, which sent XLR8 and the smaller amalgams flying into the sidewalls of the warehouse, causing them to fall unconscious and revert to their human forms. Fourarms catapulted clear through the hole in the warehouse landing several meters outside. He was also out cold and reverted back to the form of an adult Benjamin Tennyson.

Despite their shock and concern for their fallen counterparts, the hidden teens knew they couldn't be anything but spectators here. Therefore, they turned color-matching worried eyes back to the antagonist instead. Neither boy was prepared in the slightest for what they witnessed next.

The humongous amalgams started to shrink in on itself, reverting to the shape of a man. Now, in place of a monster stood a statuesque, muscular, man clad in all black leather with long, raven hair and a vicious looking X-shaped scar on his chin that blemished his hauntingly familiar countenance. He was grinning sadistically at his accomplishment.

"Dad?" Devlin couldn't help but gasp in a shocked, breathless whisper.

Kenny immediately elbowed him in the ribs to get his attention. He shot him a glare to convey; '_Shut up, before you give us away, moron!_' the moment Devlin's questioning eyes snapped to him.

Kevin 11,000, however, didn't notice as he quickly moved to finish what he had commenced before the Bain of his existence, the imbecile's brat and his own traitorous son, so rudely interrupted him.

He didn't know exactly _how _the time machine worked, only that it had the ability to send him back to a time when Benji was young and inexperienced enough to destroy easily. Thus, allowing him to dominate this pitiful Galaxy at his leisure. This was probably the reason that, as he worked the controls, he failed to notice the shard of crystal he had inadvertently, shot through the device's flux capacitor during the altercation with the trio.

Kevin 11,000 also had trouble calculating the correct mathematical equation to send him back to when his nemesis was ten years of age, which would facilitate his taking the Omnitrix after disposing of him.

In hindsight, he really should have tortured the little Galvan scientist who built this thing into activating it for him instead of squeezing the life out of him until his amphibian-looking eyes burst. Oh well, 'spilled milk'. He'd just have to make do.

He finished entering what he believed were close enough coordinates to where he needed to be in the past and stepped into the pad just as Ben ran in as XLR8 again. "I don't know what you're planning Kevin, but I swear I'll stop you."

However, before Ben could reach the pad, there was a blinding light and a hum as Kevin 11,000 disappeared into the vortex smirking maniacally and waving.

Then, there was only ominous silence as Ben reverted back to his human form and walked up to the machine to try to figure out what Kevin had done.

"Hello Ben!" Came a melodically, cheerful greeting from behind him.

Ben 10,000 turned in the blink of an eye to find a kindly smiling, middle-aged, dark-haired man with friendly (if slightly deranged-looking) charcoal gray eyes. He was sporting a lab coat as if he were a physician, of some sort.

"Dude, is that Paradox?" Kenny whispered to Devlin from their hiding place behind the crate in the corner. Both, boys had heard stories from their parents about the 'time-walker'. Neither had ever actually met him before, though. Devlin could only offer a confused shrug in response as he turned his attention back to the interior of the warehouse. The alternate version of his Uncle Ben and the man he supposed was Paradox (since the guy had materialized out of nowhere and fit the description his parents had supplied) were now being joined by this universe's versions of him and Kenny.

Now that he got a better look at them, though, Kenny didn't look exactly the same. He had the same jade eyes, but his skin was a few shades darker and he was missing the distinctive, slightly almond shape to his eyes the boy had inherited from his Aunt Julie. The reason for these differences was _not_ difficult to discern. Julie wasn't Kenny's mother in this reality.

Devlin ventured a quick glance at his cousin and realized the boy had noticed this as well as a hurt look ghosted over his eyes. He turned back to better scrutinize this universe's version of himself and, unsurprisingly, since he so heavily favored his father, noted that this reality's Devlin was pretty much an exact copy of him… except for the eyes. This boy's eyes where a dark glacial blue. Not the same mother, either.

Devlin now understood how Kenny felt. Their parents had been through everything together (things that were worse than death, in some instances) and loved one another unconditionally. The prospect of a reality actually existing, where that wasn't so, was… devastating.

Then again, who could love this universe's version of Kevin Levin? Did he rape that poor boy's mother? His sadism during the fight certainly made it seem feasible, but the notion still made Devlin want to retch.

"Ah, I see the other young ones have joined us! Hello Devlin! Hello Kenneth!"

Ben 10,000 was as confused as his sons as to whom this strange, unfathomably happy man was, but it was obvious he wasn't any kind of a threat. "How do you know all our names?"

Instead of answering his question, Paradox held up an index finger and his eyes lit up as if he'd just remembered something important. "Oh! So terribly sorry Benjamin, but all present should be privy to this conversation. A moment, if you please?" With that, he vanished in a flash of light and appeared again at the far corner of the warehouse talking to the empty space behind a crate.

'_Who else was here besides them and this strange man?_' Ben was seriously beginning to doubt this guy's sanity. Maybe he suffered from some sort of delusional schizophrenia. His adoptive son's amusedly confused question snapped him out of his musings. "Dad, who is this freak?" Ben just shrugged in response.

At the far corner of the warehouse, both teenagers flinched as Paradox suddenly appeared before them. "You boys do need to uncloak and come with me." The statement left no room for argument and the boys knew better than to quibble with the 'time-walker' anyhow, so they immediately de-cloaked and in a flash of light, were standing before the other three occupants of the building who were now extremely surprised at their appearance.

The three alternates examined the new arrivals briefly, before Kenny spoke up. "Who are…wait, you're us!" He sounded inexplicably excited and curious at the notion of meeting himself. Ben, however, took a moment to better examine the duo who uncannily resembled his boys before he concluded, "Not really, though."

"Ah, Ben! You _have_ always possessed an innate sense of trans-temporal meta-physics no matter which reality you inhabit. You are correct, of course. You see, these two young men", he gestured toward Devlin and Kenny, "are from an alternate timeline. In that timeline, you," he now pointed at Ben, "married a beautiful, bright young woman named Julie Yamamoto and fathered Kenneth, here present and his younger sister Gwendolyn. In turn, that universe's Devlin Levin, here present as well, is the outcome of a loving marriage between Kevin Ethan Levin and your cousin Gwendolyn Tennyson." This drew a dismayed and slightly disgusted grimace from all three alternates. (Who could blame them? Based on their experience…) "These variations in genetics are responsible for the minor differences in their appearances."

"Dude, Aunt Gwendolyn is your mom?" The question came from one Devlin to the other. The recipient of said inquiry studied his counter part's deep blue eyes and could see an almost coveting yearning there. It seemed as if he'd just learned what he'd wanted all his life, had already happened to someone else. Devlin found himself unable to confirm what he saw in those eyes nonchalantly. The boy deserved to be let down easy. Therefore, he worded the affirmative response as abstractly and hopefully as distractingly, as possible. "My mother is your aunt here?"

It worked. "It's really more complicated than that. My mom died when I was little. I'm guessing you saw my dad's a monster (both Devlins flinched at the accurate reference) and he pretty much disowned me. Not that he was much of a parent before that, spending most of my childhood locked up in the Null Void. That's why Dad," he pointed at Ben, "adopted me five years ago. Kenny became my little brother and his cousin Gwendolyn became my aunt. They are the only real family I've ever known."

As his counterpart spoke, Devlin could see the torment of the boy's childhood written in his oceanic eyes and the obvious fondness he held for his precious new family. His heart went out to this boy who was him basically but without the omnipresent nurturing and love, he'd all but taken for granted from both his parents. He was truly glad this version of him had found some semblance of that with the Tennysons. A smile graced his features as he spoke again. "I call your dad Uncle Ben in my universe, too. Even though I know he and my mom are really cousins."

The dark-haired teen with dark blue eyes grinned in response.

"Well getting back to the situation at hand…" All eyes turned to Paradox who was once again gesturing to Kenny and Devlin. "These two have been using a cross-time traveling device of young Devlin's invent; quite impressive for someone so young, by the way," he directed the last comment directly at Devlin who blushed slightly at the compliment and looked down, "to travel trough different realities as spectators. Now, usually this is a major no-no, but I have allowed it. As they have demonstrated the perspicacity to not only construct such a device, but also to avoid interfering with the events they witness."

"It has also been quite fortuitous that they showed up in this reality at this exact moment." As he said this, he glanced at a gold stopwatch in his hand and then pointed with his thumb at the machine behind him regarding the group again. "You see this contraption behind me? It is an extremely crude time travel device which _your_ Kevin intended to use to travel back in your timeline, kill Ben, take the Omnitrix and rule the galaxy."

"As you may have already ventured to guess, since you three are still here," he pointed at the alternate Ben, Kenny and Devlin, "he did not achieve his intended goal. However, and this is the part that is of special interest to you two boys," he now frowned morosely at Devlin and Kenny, "Kevin did travel back in time _and_ across to a different reality due to this shoddy pile of circuits having been damaged during the scuffle. He currently exists in _your_ reality and traveled back to when _your_ Ben and Gwen are sixteen and Kevin is seventeen. He is still carrying out his plans, though, and I'm afraid at that age… your parents simply are not strong enough to stop him without further assistance."

Ben finally decided to speak up at this point. "How do you know all of this? Who are you? Isn't it dangerous to _our_ reality for these kids to come into contact with us if it was so important for them to stay hidden and not interfere in the other realities they've been to?"

Paradox smiled at Ben's amazing understanding of the fragile nature of the Space Time Continuum. "All excellent questions, Ben! I will start by answering your second question first. You, your cousin and Kevin deemed it apt in another dimension to appropriate me by the name of Professor Paradox and I rather find it agreeable. So you can address me as such, if you'd like."

"In answer to your first question, I know what I know because I exist outside of time and space and can feel disruptions in what is the normal flow of events in every possible reality."

"Thirdly, y_our_ Kevin's transition into these boys' dimension has done exponentially more damage there than the mere knowledge of their existence can ever possibly do here. Furthermore, since you discovered their existence _after_ Kevin made his jump to their reality, the cause of the damage to the Space Time Continuum was Kevin, not the boys."

All the talk about the damage to their dimension gave Devlin a very uneasy feeling and he was almost afraid to ask, "Professor Paradox, what happened to our parents in the past due to _their_ Kevin going back there?"

Paradox regarded the boys with an extremely somber expression. "Let's just say, my boy, I have seen your _present_ and neither of your parents are living or have lived for decades. Needless to say, neither of you ever even existed."

Both boys' expressions morphed into mirror images of unfathomable grief, loss and righteous indignation. "How are we still here talking to you if we aren't even supposed to _exist_, anymore?" This came from Kenny who managed to recover first as his mind was working on overdrive to figure out a way, any way, to save his family.

Before Paradox could reply, however, a deeply contemplative Devlin supplied, "We created a temporal paradox by being here when that monster went to our universe and traveled backwards in time. Until we get back _there_, in _our_ _own_ present, we basically exist in a 'bubble' outside of normal time and space.

Paradox was practically beaming with excitement at the prospect of having someone understand the complexity of this particular situation so exactly. He should really have Azmuth study this youth further. "Precisely young Devlin!" the man's maniacally cheerful tone was back, "You obviously inherited your mother's keen intellect."

Devlin's face was burning once more.

Paradox noted the teen's reaction curiously and decided to file it away somewhere in the vast regions of his mind, so that he may delve into it at a more opportune time. "As I said before, it is quite fortuitous that you are here because otherwise the rules by which I, unfortunately, must abide would forbid me to help your parents in their current predicament. This saddens me unbearably as I have grown quite the fondness for your parents in more realities than you can imagine and the thought of standing by helplessly as they are slaughtered… it is quite distressing."

"However, since _you_ boys don't technically _exist_ anymore in that universe, this has provided me with a loop-hole to the rules. If I stretch my boundaries, I can send you there before Kevin arrives so that you may help your parents stop him. This instills me with the hope that the events I witnessed in your present will not come to pass."

All occupants of the warehouse silently processed this information until the alternate version of Kenny spoke up, addressing everyone gathered. "Didn't Devlin say they would vanish if they went back to their reality?"

Devlin shook his head, his bangs partially obstructing his eyes with the motion. He swiftly tucked them behind his ears. "Not if we go to the past, where we are still displaced due to the fact that neither of us has been born yet."

This earned Devlin an insanely proud smile from Paradox and his eyes quickly found the floor once more.

"When do we go?" Kenneth Tennyson had an intense, determined look in his jade green eyes that made his alternate father's heart swell with pride.

"A word of precaution, young Kenneth", Paradox put a hand on his shoulder, "because I am bending rules on an epic level to do this, I cannot foresee the outcome of what we are about to endeavor. You boys are facing a threat unlike anything you've ever encountered."

"Your parents, I assume, told you of what they had to do in order to defeat Agreggor?" Paradox looked to the teens for an answer and continued once they responded in the affirmative. "Agreggor only had the power and life essence of five specific aliens and your parents were barely able to handle _him_. Kevin 11,000 has literally murdered over 11,000 different alien beings to infuse himself with their abilities. Add to that, the fact that he's an extremely intelligent, sadistic, masochistic, sociopath and you have an unbelievably formidable opponent for a group of mere teenagers to bring down. Not that I'm undermining Ben's ingenuity or any of you other youngster's strength, but you must be warned that this will be no 'walk in the park'."

Kenny's determination, however, didn't waiver an instant and Paradox could see his genetics at work. "I'd rather go down fighting with my mom and dad than simply get blinked out of existence," he turned his intense jade eyes to the matching pair of his second cousin, "What about you, Dev?"

Devlin just crossed his arms and smirked, "Don't even have to ask, Man."

"Good! So we're off then," Paradox turned to the three alternates, "Benjamin, Devlin, Kenneth, always a pleasure!"

Then, in a flash of light, Paradox, Devlin and Kenny were gone.

**A/N: On we go to the past (insert dramatic music here). This is where this story, actually starts getting interesting. So, please, review. It might give me the strength to get the next chapter out sooner. (Spoiler alert: There will be Gwevin in the next one!)**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:This wasn't supposed to be out 'till next week; but 11/11/11? Seriously? I had to post an homage chapter to my man Kevin 11, today. I just had to. I feel like I'd be breaking some unwritten fandom rule, or something, if I didn't. (Okay, I'm officially insane.) This story, for anyone who cares to know, was supposed to be four chapters and under 20,000 words long. This chapter, officially, blows that estimate out of the water. I'm not even going to venture a guess at how long this will be, now. This story took me hostage about three chapters ago and is now forcing **_**me**_** to do **_**it's**_** will. (I, secretly, really, really, like what it's forcing me to do, though.) I just hope we all enjoy the ride!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10 or any of the characters; but I'm eternally grateful to Man of Action for coming up with them so I have something to write about.**

**Enjoy!**

There was a brilliant flash of light corresponding with the appearance of Paradox, Kenny and Devlin on a sidewalk in front of what was obviously a warehouse complex.

They seemed to be in yet another warehouse district. Devlin was experiencing a serious case of déjà vu.

"Here we are." Paradox turned to the teens and then glanced down once more at his watch to make sure he'd gotten everything right, "I've brought you back twenty-two years in your own timeline and exactly twenty-four hours before the 'evil' Kevin will arrive out in the desert sixty four miles southeast of Bellwood. This gives you until precisely 4:07 p.m. tomorrow to warn your parents of the impending danger and, hopefully, come up with a strategy to defeat him."

Kenny held a thoughtful expression as he pointed out, "Won't we have to tell them who we are to get them to believe us? I'm pretty sure I learned somewhere that it's dangerous for someone to know their own future."

'_Ah! So the young Tennyson was actually more perceptive than he led on… fascinating!_' "Under normal circumstances, young Kenneth, this would certainly be so. However, Kevin 11,000's incursion into this reality has already damaged the timeline egregiously. You can't cause more damage than _him_ at this point and in the case that you _are_ successful in defeating him, young Devlin here, "he gestured at the raven-haired teen, "will be responsible for erasing any memories your parents may have of this nightmare ever occurring. This is why I only brought you back twenty-four hours before Kevin's arrival. It greatly limits the time you have at your disposal to prepare, but it also greatly aids Devlin in his task of fixing everyone's memories afterwards."

Devlin grimaced in agreement with this statement. Erasing memories wasn't particularly difficult, but erasing an hour or more of continuous memories was quite a different story. It left a disconcerting and suspicious 'gap' in the person's subconscious, so you had to 'replace' the memory by probing the mind for some other mundane, repetitive action you could use to substitute what you had erased. It was tedious and invasive. Not to mention, the few times he'd done it under his great-grandmother's tutelage, he'd learned things about his subjects he _really_ didn't want to know.

He, definitely, wasn't looking forward to probing the minds of his teenage folks and uncles for a day's worth of crap to replace what he'd have to erase. Especially, if someone got seriously hurt during the battle or worse (he really didn't want to think about the 'worse') because of this little venture into the past. Nevertheless, if they defeated the monster that was coming, he'd do it a million times.

Paradox continued, "This is also one of two reasons I suggest you don't allow your parents to alert anyone else of the impending danger: namely, your great-grandfather. The second reason being that Maxwell Tennyson and the other earth-based plumbers he is currently training will be the last line of defense for earth should you youths fail and they will, undoubtedly, need much more than twenty-four hours to mount a proper defense either way."

'_That's reassuring!_' Devlin mused to himself as he noticed Paradox eying him curiously. "I wish to make a personal inquiry about an observation I've made about you, young Devlin. Am I permitted to do so while in the company of your cousin; or would you rather I take us somewhere more private, momentarily?"

Devlin'd been caught off guard by the odd request. He couldn't fathom what Paradox could possibly want to ask him but he glanced at his cousin who looked slightly put-off at the idea of being left out of anything. Kenny was nosier than a sewing circle. "Kenny's fine. Shoot."

"Very well. I've noticed, you seem quite assured about your outward appearance. However, every time I compliment your obvious superior intellect, you seem to morph into a reticent, introvert. Why is that?"

Just like that, Paradox had effortlessly, removed Kenny from the conversation. Devlin had to smile at the man's ingenious way of excluding his cousin without physically leaving his presence. Kenny was far smarter than he led on and certainly didn't live up to his potential, but linguistics was _not_ his strong suit. There was absolutely no way the kid could follow the level of articulation Paradox was using. Devlin, however, felt sorry for him and decided to respond in the vernacular, so that his cousin could catch on to the general context of the question.

"My mother is beautiful, my father is extremely handsome. I was pretty much genetically predisposed to be good-looking. I've never had to work at it. How smart I was born, I suppose, probably also comes from my mom. Learning to use my intelligence to its full potential… now,_ that_ has taken years of hard work studying, reading and researching every topic, I could. So, when _you_ whom I know to be one of the most brilliant minds in existence, pay me a compliment on _my_ intellect, I can't help but feel astronomically… humbled."

Paradox was growing more and more impressed with this boy. "It is a rare thing indeed to find someone who understands and accepts at such a young age that, in spite of how proficient we become at anything, there will always be someone out there who is our superior if only by a slight margin. You, young Devlin, should never change this particular way of seeing yourself. Through the many mistakes, you will inevitably make as you age into adulthood. This will certainly be your most precious redeemable quality."

He now regarded Kenny and Devlin both as he gave them what he hoped would be useful information for the coming confrontation, "There is only one weakness you can hope to exploit when facing off against Kevin 11,000. Although he has the abilities and strengths of innumerable different aliens, his very human mind has to control them all."

"This is a disadvantage, because whereas young Kenneth here, or Ben, can give their full attention to controlling and mastering each of their alien transformations individually, when Kevin is in his amalgamated form his mind must control them all at once. A human mind simply can't handle 11,000 separate tasks at once. This makes every single one of Kevin's abilities weaker than either Ben's or Kenneth's alien transformations when he attacks one on one. When he starts combining them, however, he becomes exponentially more difficult to defeat. This strategy, however, also comes at the cost of loss off control on his part. So, you may be able to use it to your advantage."

Paradox now pointed to a large garage about four buildings down from where they stood. "Kevin Levin's garage is that one, over there. I believe you will find Gwendolyn Tennyson there, as well. I will be taking my leave of you now. Too-Da-Loo!" and just like that, the cousins were alone on the sidewalk.

Devlin turned to his cousin, "I think I get why, Dad doesn't like him," he stated flatly.

They made their way over to the garage and upon finding it locked; Devlin promptly absorbed the material of the lock and transformed his index finger into a shape resembling an old-style key. He then inserted it in the keyhole, concentrating on changing the shape to conform to whatever would trigger the mechanisms within to unlock.

"Dude! We're just breaking in! You're not even going to try knocking first?" Kenny's voice sounded slightly panicked at the notion. He loved making mischief but he drew the line at illegalities.

"Chill, Kenny! If he's locked in there, he's likely working on the car. If he's like me and we both know he is, he'll ignore anyone who knocks while he's working on his car. We don't have time to waste on futility." That was a perfectly logical explanation to Kenny, so he decided to be a willing accomplice to the 'breaking and entering'.

Walking into what was obviously the office of the garage, the boys immediately noticed all the lights and computers were off, which confirmed their suspicion that Kevin would likely be in the adjoining work area. They ventured further inside and closer to where the office joined the garage through a metal door.

As they approached, they heard what sounded somewhat like muffled talking coming from the other side of the door. The sound was increasing and clarifying as they neared. It was definitely female but it didn't really sound like talking… was that moaning?

Devlin stopped dead in his tracks. He recognized that sound. He'd unfortunately heard it before a few times when he'd walked into various parts of his house without knocking, like the library, the guest bedroom, and the laundry room (Seriously, didn't they know the function of the locks on the doors in their own house?) Devlin was busying himself with erasing hauntingly, disturbing imagery from the darker recesses of his mind when Kenny's snicker broke his concentration. "Dude! Are your parents getting it on in there?"

Devlin quivered at the thought of walking in on _this_ again and shakily replied, "God, I hope not." Then he reached forward and forcefully knocked on the door.

The moaning stopped and a surprised, slightly embarrassed-sounding, teenaged girl's voice came from the other side of the door.

"Someone's knocking from the office!"

This was immediately answered by a slightly muffled teenaged boy's voice, which sounded astoundingly like Devlin's.

"Can't be. It's locked from the outside. You're just imagining it."

The female teenage voice sounded indignant, now.

"I'm not imagining it, Kevin! Someone's at the door to the office! Get off me!"

Devlin face-palmed himself and Kenny just burst into chuckles.

There were some rustling sounds and then the sound of footfalls advancing hurriedly towards the door right before it flew open.

Then, there stood a very flustered-looking sixteen-year-old Gwen Tennyson with her hair disheveled and all the buttons on her blouse buttoned one button off its corresponding buttonhole, making it very obvious she wasn't wearing it thirty seconds ago. The moment Kenny caught a glimpse at her; he full out exploded with laughter, clutching his stomach. Devlin just went beet-red and tried his best to avert his eyes.

Gwen, however, didn't even notice the taller boy as the one who was doubled-over in laughter almost painfully caught her attention.

"Can I help you with something?" Gwen asked the laughing boy, clearly annoyed at being laughed at so rudely. Kenny only held up an index finger in a 'give me a second' gesture in response. He couldn't will himself to stop laughing long enough to do anything else.

"You might want to turn around and fix your shirt first." Devlin's face was still crimson as the younger version of his mother snapped her head up to look at him, noticing him standing there for the first time. Her immediate reaction was to release a surprised gasp. "Kevin?"

"What?" Came the bawled reply from inside the garage.

Devlin kindly supplied a response by vociferating back into the garage in almost exactly the same voice, only with a different inflection. He'd never noticed how much he sounded like his dad. Then again, Kevin Ethan Levin at thirty-nine sounded nothing like he did at seventeen. The inflection hadn't changed, though. "She's not calling you, man. It's really more of a surprised reaction to the way I look."

Then he focused his green eyes back on his teenage mother who stared back at him in shocked awe. "I actually get that, a lot. You _really_ need to go fix your shirt now."

With that, he moved past her and into the garage with Kenny dragging behind, trying to catch his breath.

He found the seventeen-year-old version of his father lying shirtless on a couch opposite the car lift, which held his father's beautiful 2010 Dodge Challenger. Devlin fought the urge to touch it.

Kevin bolted out of the couch the instant he caught sight of what looked like himself staring right back at him. "Who or what are you?" Kevin was already taking a defensive stance the muscles on his chest and arms visibly tightening.

Devlin couldn't help but stare. People tell you your whole life how much you favor your father, but until you're actually standing face-to-face with the reality of it…

"What do you mean _what_? _What_ do I look like?" Devlin knew that Kevin, at this stage in his life, had no way of knowing who he was. Nevertheless, did he really have to insult him the moment he saw him?

"You _look_ like an evil clone of me!" Kevin replied matter-of-factually. At this point, Gwen had made her reentry into the garage, looking much more composed (much to Devlin's relief).

"He's got a point, Dev. You do look like a clone of him…except for the eyes. You even sound like him." Kenny deadpanned logically.

Devlin looked at Kenny in surprised wonder. Since when did Kenny use logic? He certainly picked the perfect day to start! He cut his sarcastic musing short to look back at his father who was already starting to frustrate him. "Even if I were a clone, why would you automatically assume I'm 'evil'?"

"That's the way things tend to go for our team, Kid." Kevin stated simply, crossing his arms defiantly.

Okay. So Devlin had to acquiesce to that fact. The strangest things _did_ tend to happen to his extended family. He couldn't believe, however, how unbelievably paranoid his father was at this age. Never mind the insurmountable adamancy. Was _he_ really like _this_? "Okay, I'll give you that, but I'm not your evil clone! I'm-"

"Wait Dev, I'm curious about something." Kenny walked up to Kevin, regarding him curiously, (he had to incline his head quite a bit to accomplish this as he was five feet, six inches tall and both Levin teens had already reached the six-foot mark). He pointed back at Devlin, "If he's an evil clone of _you_," he now pointed to himself searching Kevin's face for a reaction "Who am _I_?"

Kevin seemed to contemplate the odd question for a moment as he regarded the familiar features on the short brunette's face, "You're an evil Asian clone of Ben?"

Gwen brought her thumb and index finger up to her face and rubbed the bridge of her nose while shutting her eyes, tight. This couldn't end well. She didn't know who these guys were but they chose the wrong person to mess around with.

Kenny doubled over in laughter again as soon as his uncle's guess at who he was left his mouth, "I'm an evil Asian clone of Ben?" He repeated mockingly, hiccupping through bouts of laughter as he turned to his cousin who was trying very hard not to chuckle at his contagious hysterics, "Oh God! At what point in time did he become the hard-ass, law-enforcement, master-mind that makes me crap my pants with one look, 'cause right now he's dumb as the bricks he absorbs!"

Kenny was laughing so hard, he failed to notice the dangerously furious sneer that came over Kevin's face at his little joke. Within a second, Kenny's face was crushed to the floor of the garage along with the rest of his body; everything but his arms, which were being distended behind him by Kevin, who also had a knee on his back, effectively pinning him in that position. "What did you call me?"

Kenny couldn't answer. The pain shooting down his arms and into his shoulder blades from the tension his uncle held on his arms was excruciating! His eyes were literally tearing up. He just concentrated on not moving a muscle. Years of training with Devlin had taught him that if he moved and inch, he was going to tear the ligaments in his shoulders.

Devlin considered helping his idiotic cousin for a moment, but thought better of it. The kid had been stupid enough to tease Kevin Levin. He deserved this. Besides both he and Kenny knew this move. As long as his father didn't move, Kenny's arms any further up and Kenny stayed perfectly still; the pain was mind numbing but there was no permanent damage. Then again, if his temperamental teenage father got the inclination, he could literally rip his arms off. That wouldn't be good. Devlin tried quickly to recall at what age exactly his father had told him he'd regained his sanity.

"Kevin, get off of him! You're hurting him!" The merciful command had come from Gwen, who was now standing over the two boys on the floor.

"That was the general idea!" Kevin sneered back at her but grudgingly released Kenny, who immediately shot up on his knees and wrapped his arms around himself so that each of his hands could rub the opposite sore shoulder as he groaned in pain. Devlin just dipped both hands into the front pocket of his hoodie and shook his head at the boy on the floor, frowning.

"Now who are you two, really?" The question, this time originated from Gwen.

Devlin really regarded her for the first time since they arrived and his eyes automatically softened. He knew his mother was beautiful. His dad had amazing taste, but at this age, she was radiant. Her eyes, which were mirrors of his own, were full of youth and at the moment, a fierce determination to get what she wanted. He couldn't help but give her a warm, loving smile. If he was completely honest with himself, he had to admit… he missed her.

Gwen couldn't help the blush that colored her cheeks at the amazing smile the raven-haired boy that so drastically resembled her Kevin was giving her. If he wasn't Kevin's clone, he was certainly every bit as handsome.

Kevin glared. Was this guy making a pass at Gwen right in front of him?

Devlin could feel his father's eyes burning a hole in the side of his head. However, he decided to ignore the display of ridiculous jealousy (his father would realize just how truly disgusting the notion going through his twisted mind was the moment he accepted the fact that Devlin was his **_son_** and not a rival for Gwen's affection). He realized it would be so much easier to _show_ his mother who he was instead of simply _telling_ her.

It took almost no concentration to establish the telepathic link to her. They were after all connected since before his birth. Both their eyes glowed that unique magenta color as the link from son to mother was established.

'_You can feel it, can't you… our connection?'_

Gwen flinched at the sudden intrusion of the voice belonging to the boy, whose eyes had inexplicably started glowing with manna, echoing in her mind. It wasn't an unpleasant sensation, just… odd. His manna felt like hers… as if it was derived from hers. She found herself fascinated by this and tilted her head in a questioning gesture at the boy. "How are you doing that?" The inquiry came out as an awed heave.

'_I've always been able to do this.'_ Came the simple answer in what she could only describe as a loving tone. _'_**_We've_**_ always been able to do this.'_

Realization dawned slowly on Gwen and an amazed, wondering smile settled on her semblance. She was so full of questions for him. Like, why was he here? _How_ was he here? When was he born?

"Not the glowy eyes thing again, guys!" Kenny grumbled in protest from the floor where he was still prone, rubbing the ache out of his shoulders, "Seriously, it sucks for those of us who are kept out of the loop!"

"What're they doing?" Kenny turned his head at the teenage version of his uncle, who was staring at his aunt with concerned eyes.

'_Oh, so _**_now_**_ you talk to me instead of trying to rip my arms off_?' He was actually somewhat grateful his uncle couldn't read minds. He really didn't need a beating right now. Kenny also knew resentment wasn't going to help this situation any.

"Anodytes can communicate with each other without speaking even when they're in their human form," he stated as if this was obvious common knowledge. Okay, so he was still resentful. His shoulders still hurt.

"He's an Anodyte?" Kevin pointed a shocked finger at the raven-haired teen, while addressing the brunette on the floor.

Kenny shrugged uncaringly, recognizing the opportunity to belittle his cousin, "He's a lot of things… including a self absorbed, rude jerk and a spaz." He turned mocking green eyes and satisfactorily smirking face from his uncle to his cousin, who was now shooting him and insulted sneer.

"Up yours, Kenny!"

Kevin was more than a little confused and irritated at this point.

"Okay, time out! What's going on here? Who are you?"

Though the demand for an answer was directed at Devlin, it was Gwen who placed a loving hand on his shoulder, gaining his attention. When he looked down at her, she rewarded him with one of the most glowingly beautiful smiles he'd ever seen grace her delicate features. Her emerald eyes had a dreamy introspective gleam to them.

"He's our son, Kevin."

This, of course, was too much information for a seventeen-year-old who, not ten minutes ago, had been making out with his girlfriend and whose blood hadn't fully cycled back to all the parts in his body it should be flowing yet; certainly not as far up as his brain. Therefore, the only response Kevin's slightly oxygen deprived, addled, mind could conjure up at the moment was…

"Who's what now?"

**A/N: Please Review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I want to thank ****ParamoreXO and brandirandom21 who have given me such great comments and input for this story. Here is the first of the Benlie chapters.**

**Disclaimer: Man of Action owns Ben 10 and all the characters in this fan fiction.**

**Enjoy!**

Her boyfriend was simply too adorable for words at times. Gwen giggled as she wrapped her arms around Kevin's still naked torso and repeated for clarification, gesturing to Devlin, "Kevin, he's our son."

Kevin looked from her to the dark-haired teen, still confused. It was difficult to assimilate the information (especially with her touching his bare skin). He scrutinized the raven-haired teenager. Was he wearing his hoodie? Had he ruined it?

He had to admit the resemblance was uncanny except for the guy's eyes, which happened to be the exact same shade as Gwen's. Okay. That wasn't helping his skepticism any.

This wasn't even possible, though. He'd never been physical to that extent with Gwen and even if he had, the kid looked a year maybe two younger than _he_ was!

"Gwen, how can he be our son? The kid's like, two minutes younger than me."

For some reason, Devlin found that particular statement to be amusingly challenging and decided to counter, "Actually, if you want to get technical, I'm twenty-two years, one month and seventeen days younger than you."

Kevin didn't appreciate the correction, "I was exaggerating for effect, genius! Or does sarcasm not exist where you came from?"

Devlin was not backing down, "If it didn't you'd event it! God forbid Kevin Ethan Levin exists in a world devoid of sarcasm!"

The kid was trying to have the last word! Okay. _That_ definitely had 'Levin' written all over it. Kevin was finding far too much relish in messing with him at the moment to recognize this, though. "Okay, if you're my son… prove it."

Gwen made a mental note that all the men in her life were absurdly immature at this age. With a sigh, she went to get Kevin's shirt off the couch and nudged him on the shoulder to get his attention. He eventually ripped his eyes away from what was apparently a staring contest with his own son long enough to look at her. "Put your shirt back on, Kevin."

He quickly threw the shirt over his head and regarded Devlin with an expectant, challenging glare, "What's it gonna be, then?"

Devlin sighed tiredly and turned around to smooth his hand over the freshly waxed Dodge Challenger on the car lift. He concentrated, willing his skin to absorb the material. Within a split second, the metallic texture encased his entire body. He then turned and regarded the fascinated looks on his teenage parents' faces.

Kevin quickly schooled his countenance into one of detached observation as he folded his arms and brought one hand up to stroke his chin feigning contemplation. "What about the whole Anodyte thing from before?"

Devlin was at his breaking point trying to convince his overly paranoid cynical father who he was. "I'm not a freaking, _sideshow_, Dad!"

Kevin wasn't entirely certain if the flinch he'd experienced at the teen's statement was due to the designation the boy had used to refer to him or the way he had suddenly exploded. That volatile temperament definitely had a ring of familiarity to it.

"Show him the other thing, Dev." Kenny was up on his feet again and smirking deviously at his cousin.

"Nah, man. That freaks him out even when I do it in our time!" Devlin released his hold on the matter energy he'd absorbed from the car and reverted back to his human form.

Kenny shot him an extremely pathetic, puppy-dog, pouty look. "Please, Dude! He almost dislocated my shoulders. It still really freaking hurts! You should want to avenge your best friend's suffering!"

Devlin's face twisted in disgust, but he wasn't completely sure if it was at Kenny's face or his feeble attempt at a guilt trip. He burst out laughing at both when Kenny started whimpering.

Gwen watched the interaction between the two boys with amusement. She already knew, without a doubt, the tallest was her son. It wasn't hard to guess by their familiarity with each other (and honestly, the kid's outward appearance), who the other one's father was. These two acted so much like their fathers did with one another. She found it was unbelievably heartwarming.

Devlin finally relented to his cousin's annoying groveling. "Fine! Where're the circuit breakers in here?" He looked around the large garage, finding them on the opposite end of the wall that held the door to the office. He circled the car lift and quickly advanced toward them.

For reasons unnamed, Kevin felt uneasy as he saw the teen he'd covertly accepted as his son make his way toward the circuit breakers. The lights were on and the A/C was running. Why would an Osmosian need an electrical panel? None of the answers Kevin's mind supplied were particularly, good.

His apprehension was justified when the dark-haired boy opened the box, placed a hand against the metal and electrical currents began undulating up his arm.

"Woah! Stop! That crap messes with your head!" Kevin found himself bolting for his son. He had to wrest him away from what he knew to be astronomically dangerous and addictive. He suddenly had an inadvertent flashback of himself as a power-deranged eleven-year-old.

God! He couldn't let that happen to his son!

Five feet from reaching him, however, he collided with a manna shield; terrified, questioning, onyx eyes, immediately darted back at Gwen.

"That wasn't me!" Her voice and demeanor mirrored the panic he was feeling that instant.

Kevin frantically looked back through the shield at the raven-haired teen who had the palm that wasn't occupied with absorbing the raw electricity from the building outstretched in his direction, manipulating the manna field.

Devlin regarded his father with a smirk, "You did say you wanted to see Anodyte stuff." The lights started flickering on and off as Devlin continued to address his panic-stricken teenage father in an aggravating, inappropriately calm voice. "You'll want to open the garage doors for the fire works."

Kevin, however, was far too preoccupied with overtaking the shield and rescuing his son to register the request. Gwen had also joined in, trying to use her own manna to try and rip a fissure in the shield. Why was her son doing this to himself?

The sound of the doors opening caused everyone to turn momentarily in that direction. They saw the brunette teen working the controls to the doors. "I got you, Cuz."

As soon as the doors were fully open, Devlin released the electric panel and dashed outside, dropping the manna shield in the process. Kevin and Gwen were right on his heals.

Not a moment after he got a few feet outside, Devlin shot his hands up skyward and his whole frame seemed to beam magenta with the plethora of manna that surged up his body and amassed in his hands. Then, with a powerful burst, it propelled out of his extended palms and traveled several hundred feet in the air before exploding magnificently into a starburst of life energy that rained down on everything for a block around them.

Both Devlin and Kenny stood next to each other, heads inclined to the sky, watching the light show. "That would've looked so much more awesome if it were darker out, but what're you gonna do?" Devlin was always somewhat self-critical.

Suddenly, he felt a sharp, stinging lambaste to the back of the head, the force of which, actually caused him to look back down.

His hand flew to the bruised spot on his shaven head as he turned in almost the blink of an eye to deliver a very creative string of expletives at his father, whom he knew to be the aggressor. However, the words died on his lips with a solitary glance at the raven-haired teenager who stood directly behind him.

His father's eyes were overflowing with a mix of emotions Devlin had honestly never seen combined in them before. Rage was definitely prominent among them. The emotion seemed to be scorching his eyes. Outrage, disapproval, horror, shame and even concern seemed to flash through them all at once. The way his arms were twitching at his sides and his hands coiled tightly into fists, spoke volumes of the self-constraint it had taken on his part not to succumb to his violent nature and do much worse than smack him on the back of the head. When he spoke, his voice took on a dangerous tone Devlin really didn't think he could emulate if he tried.

"Don't ever do that again, do you hear me?"

Devlin was at a loss for words. He knew doing this was a stupid idea. It was Kenny's idea. It had to be idiotic, but he really hadn't thought his father would get _this_ upset. Sure, he didn't like him messing with raw energy in his own time, but he'd never lost it like this.

Devlin felt the horrible guilt and shame start to settle in his stomach. It only worsened when he ventured a quick look at his teenage mother who looked almost on the verge of tears as she came up beside his father. She kept looking over his face as if to assure herself that his sanity was still intact. He had to explain. He had to explain, fast!

"Because I'm literally half Anodyte and half Osmosian my abilities can balance each other out when I absorb raw energy," his words were coming out in a panicked rush, "I swear it doesn't affect my mind. You have known about it since I was four-years-old." He regarded both his parent with the most contrite, apologetic gaze he could muster. "Mom, Dad, I'm really, really sorry I did this to you." He was completely sincere.

Gwen unhesitatingly perked up at her son's clarification and apology. She was fascinated by the prospect of having mothered someone so unique. Her curiosity about him was reignited full-force. She was going to start her interrogation of him when she heard Kevin scoff at her side. Jade green eyes turned to her boyfriend askance. He was regarding their son with reluctance and she couldn't understand why, but she trusted him. He was obviously seeing something she wasn't. She'd follow his lead in the end.

Kevin got closer to his son and locked eyes with him. Then in a rumbling, low voice that was meant for only for Devlin's ears, he stated, "That's bull and we both know it! Just because it doesn't affect your mind the way it would mine and every other Osmosian out there in the Universe doesn't mean you can't get hooked on the_ feel_ of it." Devlin's eyes went wide with surprised shame at what his father was implying. "Don't think I didn't see it in your eyes when you were absorbing it. You feel it the same as the rest of us. That makes it dangerous for you, too."

Devlin knew precisely what his father was referring to. Raw energy felt amazing, like an overwhelming adrenaline rush. It was an unbelievable high. The intensity varied depending on the form of raw energy an Osmosian absorbed. Life essence was the strongest (he'd never absorbed life energy, but his father had described it graphically to him), electrical currents were a close second; matter energy had the least effect. He'd also learned that what he was able to do with his cousin's Omnitrix felt pretty much like absorbing matter.

Devlin put as much sincerity as he could into his next statement. The words spoken as tacitly as his father had before and never releasing the grip his eyes held on his father's. "I rarely ever absorb electricity, because of how it feels and how easily I could get lost in that feeling," he felt the heat rise to his neck at the immense shame in that admission, "and the few times I do absorb it, I release it immediately, so I can't dwell on the rush, like I did just now. I really am sorry about doing that to you, Dad."

Kevin finally nodded accepting the teenager's apology. He moved back and wrapped an arm around Gwen's shoulders. She smiled brilliantly up at him obviously pleased with his ability to resolve the matter with the boy.

If he were to be completely honest with himself, he was having a hard time staying angry at the dark-haired teen. He was actually quite impressed at the kid's level of self-control. If he didn't go insane every time he absorbed raw energy, he wasn't sure he wouldn't give-in to the temptation every chance he got.

Then the reality of it finally dawned on him. This was _his_ son. He and Gwen had really engendered this amazing young man before him who was currently averting his gaze and looking incredibly ashen with his dark bangs hiding his eyes. Green eyes. Gwen's beautiful green eyes. Steadily, a wave of affection for this raven-haired, green-eyed boy was overtaking him. He found he wasn't completely comfortable with the prospect. Kevin really needed something to distract him from that emotion, so he focused his eyes on the shorter brunette beside his son. "So, I'm guessing you're Ben and Julie's."

Kenny smiled and waved hello as if they'd just now met. "Hello Uncle Kevin! So nice to know you've always been this genial and charming!"

Kevin, to his credit, bit back the colorfully scathing rebuttal his mind automatically engineered at the annoying teenager's sarcastic quip, preferring instead to roll his eyes exasperatedly and land them on the beautiful red-head beside him who was smiling at the brunette's whit. "Yup, he's definitely Tennyson's."

Gwen looked up at her boyfriend, the smile never leaving her lips as she playfully crossed her arms. "I think he's adorable!"

"Hey, Aunt Gwen! I'm not a puppy!"

Gwen turned her attention back to Kenny and giggled unapologetically, "Well you're cute as one." She stated this so truthfully and matter-of-factually, Kenny was unable to think of a comeback. He just slumped and blushed in abashed silence.

Devlin looked on in shock. Is that what it took to shut up his cousin? A sincere compliment from a beautiful girl? Why hadn't he ever thought of this? He needed to hook-up his cousin with someone as soon as they got back home. Kenny most definitely needed a girlfriend.

The thought of home brought him back to why they were here. "We need to get to Uncle Ben and Aunt Julie as soon as possible," the urgency in Devlin's voice caused the other teen's to turn to him, "There's an unbelievably dangerous threat coming in less than twenty-four hours and we were sent here to warn you!"

Kevin turned his eyes to Gwen questioningly. "He's on a study date with Julie at his house tonight. It should only take us a few minutes to get there in your car."

Kevin shook his head, "Car's on the lift, remember? I still need to finish a couple more tweaks after that incident with the Forever Knights a couple nights ago. We can't leave for a couple of hours."

"A couple of hours? We don't_ have_ a couple of hours? If you would've been working on the car instead of playing tonsil hockey it would be fixed by now!" Kenny really didn't assess what flew out of his mouth when he got upset and the idea of his entire family being slaughtered because of a stupid car definitely counted as upsetting.

"Listen here, Runt-" Kevin was already advancing on Kenny who had a hand poised over his Omnitrix; when Devlin moved in between them, "Everyone really needs to chill! We don't need the car. Mom," he turned to his mother, "You said Uncle Ben and Aunt Julie are at Aunt Sandra and Uncle Carl's house. Where in the house do they usually study?"

Gwen didn't know what he was getting at, but she decided to humor him, "I've always seen them in the living room."

Okay. Devlin had been to Aunt Sandra and Uncle Carl's house a million times. He knew exactly where the living room was. He just needed to concentrate.

"Ah, Dude! No! You suck at this!"

Devlin's eyes glowed a bright magenta as he navigated the sea of different life signatures in the city and pin-pointed Ben's. Once he got a lock, he swept his hand and a manna field encircled all four teenagers.

Kevin regarded the familiar field and then looked at Gwen slightly apprehensive, "Is he doing what I think he's doing?" She stared back just as nervously.

Then the glow in Devlin's eyes intensified as he closed his hand into a fist and correspondingly, the manna field abruptly collapsed in on itself and disappeared… along with the four teenagers.

-Five Minutes Earlier at Ben's House-

Julie Yamamoto was presently extremely proud of herself.

She had finally divined a study system to help her boyfriend (who demonstrated both a complete inability to retain information and the attention span of a six month old) absorb the knowledge he required to pass his 'World History' exam on Monday.

The concept was brilliant in its simplicity. She asked him a question from the practice quiz the teacher had provided them and if he answered correctly, she rewarded him with a kiss.

If the question was simple, he earned a peck on the cheek, if the question was more difficult and therefore worth more of his overall score on the test, she gave him a kiss on his lips.

This was basically the same way she trained Ship, but Ben didn't need to know that. She was pretty sure the knowledge that he was being tutored the way you train a dog would be counter-productive.

"Okay Ben. Next question: The French Revolution was ignited by:

A) Wealthy aristocrats who wanted more power and autonomy.

B) The peasantry, after centuries of abuse at the hands of the hierarchy and aristocracy.

C) Governmental dissenters who wanted a government reform for France, instead of the monarchy.

Or

D) All of the above."

The brunette was only half listening, enthralled by her mouth as it moved to enunciate the words she was speaking. She was so close, seating next to him, the quiz in her hand, one leg crossed under her. She had such a pretty shape to her mouth and the way she moved her lips as she spoke was hypnotizing. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he registered some information he'd heard his history teacher mention a couple of weeks ago, only now it was coming in that beautiful, soft intonation that Julie emitted as her speaking voice. He didn't consciously think before he answered. "It's B."

Julie smiled proudly and checked off the answer on the quiz. "Very good, Ben! Now, this one is multiple-choice, so you just get a kiss on the che-" She couldn't finish the statement as Ben pinned her flat against the couch in an instant, his body over hers and his mouth demandingly crushed against hers. She'd been speaking, so his tongue found its way easily inside and was currently drawing lazy circles in the roof of her mouth, doing an amazing job of erasing all rational thought from her consciousness.

They eventually broke for air but Ben didn't get off of her, preferring to trail kisses down her neck. Julie slowly opened her eyes and tried to refocus on anything besides what Ben was doing to her. "Ben." her voice entered his ears deliciously out of breath and his excited response was to bite down on the nape of her neck, eliciting a pleasured hiss out of her.

Okay. Regardless of how good this felt, she had to get his attention. So, she ventured again, trying with implicit determination to ignore his hands, which were now rubbing her sides. "Multiple-choice questions are only worth a kiss on the cheek, Ben." The neediness in her voice was simply not helping!

She felt what she knew to be an infuriatingly, cocky smirk against the skin of her neck. "But it was really, really hard!" Ben feigned a whine to gain her sympathy.

Julie rolled her eyes, not completely sure if it was at his immaturity or the sensations shooting through her nerves at his ministrations. "You're going to fail 'History' if you don't pass this test, Ben. Not to mention, your parents only stepped out to the store a moment and could walk in any second."

She knew the second argument was weak. The living room adjoined the front door and garage. They'd be able to hear his parents coming long before they reached the door. It was worth a try, though. His unspoken response was gentle suck on her collarbone, which caused her to spasm inadvertently against him at the unbelievable sensation. Was he trying to distract her?

He suddenly propped himself on his elbows and locked his excited, emerald green eyes with her shrouded, dark hazel ones. "Five minute study-break!" He supplied as his idea of an excuse before lunging back at her mouth, muffling her next complaint.

This was the moment a flash of bright magenta light and four teenagers appeared in the Tennyson living room. Though, as far as the distracted teens on the couch were concerned, it could have been an elephant.

Devlin immediately went down on one knee, shooting a hand up to his temple and shutting his eyes tight to wait for the familiar wave of nausea and disorientation to pass. Transportation truly sucked! While he waited for the room to stop spinning, however, he could still hear his father's mocking tenor address whom he assumed, was his uncle.

"I thought they were supposed to be studying! What's the subject? Anatomy?"

Next came Kenny's obviously revolted contribution, "Okay, so the Universe decided to get back at me for laughing at what you guys were doing before."

Devlin decided he was probably auspicious to be spared whatever scene it was, they had intruded upon in the living room.

Ben propelled himself off of Julie and snapped his head in the direction of Kevin's voice with a very audible, "Eek!" (It was very fortunate for him that Julie was so totally into him because that squealing-like-a-girl thing he did was decidedly un-masculine.) "What are you guys…? How did you…?" Ben was experiencing much the same oxygen deprivation Kevin was plagued with a few minutes earlier and for much the same reason: hormonal teenage boys.

Julie, thankfully, was female and far too acclimated to the random weirdness that seemed to always follow the group of friends. "Ben is over-valuating the reward system we established for the purpose of cramming for his World History exam," she explained as she sat up straightening her clothes in the process.

"You weren't complaining about the 'over-valuation' a moment ago!" Ben graced her with that incredibly self-absorbed grin of his.

The tone of her response was appalled, dismayed and recriminating all in one. "I was _complaining_ the whole time, Ben!" He was making her seem 'easy' in front of his friends!

His audacious grin only grew in response. "Yes, but your heart wasn't in it."

Julie's outrage was palpable as her eyes invoked death upon her boyfriend. She was going to kill him. The arrogant bastard had to die! It was that simple.

Kevin was immensely enjoying the exchange and found he couldn't help himself as the unprecedented opportunity to humiliate Ben on an epic level materialized before his eyes. He smirked lecherously at the pair. "What were you planning on giving him if he aced his test?"

Both teen's faces went crimson at the blatant, insinuation and Julie quickly averted both Ben's and everyone else's eyes. Okay. If there was a hole around somewhere, she could crawl into and die right about now…

Ben shot furious daggers with his eyes at his so-called 'best friend'.

Gwen was trying very hard to stifle the giggle that was threatening to erupt at her boyfriend's poignant witticism at her cousin and friend's expense when she noticed something she just had to point out to Julie. "Um, Julie, what's that on your neck?"

Julie's wide-eyed, questioning gaze shot up to meet Gwen's while both hands came up to wrap around her neck. "What?"

She bolted off the couch and into the hall washroom to inspect herself.

Ben shot his cousin a recriminating sneer and brazed himself for the inevitable reaction from the fiery Asian-American girl. He was well aware he'd become overzealous with her neck.

"BENJAMIN KIRBY TENNYSON!" Came the loudly vocalized arraignment from the hall wash room. Ben winced at the pitch her voice had been able to attain in her outburst.

Julie stormed back into the living room zipping her pink hoodie as far up as it would go and flipping the hood over her head in an effort to conceal as much as she could. She shot her boyfriend a scandalized death glare. "**Seriously?**"

Ben just gave her the most remorseful look he could muster with his beautiful emerald eyes. "It's not my fault you have such sensitive skin, Julie," his look then morphed into something more suggestive as he smirked, "such soft, supple, sensitive skin."

She attempted to send a chastising glare at him that failed miserably into the perfect imitation of a flattered blush. She wished she knew _how_ she was capable of loving and loathing him so much simultaneously.

"Yeah, love-birds, we gotta situation here." Kevin pointed at Kenny and the now upright Devlin. "We got _visitors_."

Ben regarded the teenagers critically momentarily from his seated position on the couch before venturing a casual guess. "Evil Clones?"

Okay.

Devlin was well beyond irritated.

Devlin had the beginnings of what professed to be a ponderous migraine.

Devlin was fed-up with his teenage family's ridiculous crap.

Devlin snapped!

**A/N: Please Review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Man of Action owns Ben 10 and all the Characters in this story. I own nothing.**

**Enjoy!**

Devlin's temper flared to the point his eyes lost all traces of white, black or emerald and just pulsated with the manna-infused magenta of his Anodyte lineage. He stormed past his teenage parents (almost mistakenly shoving his mother) and stood directly before his seated teenage uncle with his hands balled almost painfully into fists at his sides and his raven bangs hanging, forgotten, obscuring his face (he wasn't about to bother with them when he was this pissed). He sent a dangerously menacing glare at the brunette teen. "The 'evil clone' thing is getting really freaking old, man! Why does everyone think we're freaking 'evil clones'?"

Ben helpfully lifted a finger in an attempt to respond to the obviously frazzled teenager looming over him, but was abruptly cutoff, "Yeah, I know. The Universe gets its kicks outta doing that kinda crap to you guys on a daily basis. I got a news flash for you… **I couldn't care less, anymore!** We're from twenty years in your future," Devlin paused to point at Kenny then gestured to Ben and Julie, "He's your kid. I'm", he pointed back at Gwen and Kevin, "their son. Is this all clear or am I going to fast for you, Dude?"

Devlin seethed momentarily, trying to reign in his temper while his uncle casually analyzed both him and Kenny. Then, Ben's eyes lit up with the excitement of a kid in a candy store, "Whoa! Cool!"

Devlin was taken aback. No request for explanations? Nothing? That was way too easy. There was no way his teenage uncle was _this_ trusting. In _his_ time, Uncle Ben had a very big heart, but he was far from gullible.

The raven-haired teen _should_ have just been grateful that the ball was rolling on what they needed to accomplish here and he _could_ have just accepted his uncle's nonchalance in the matter, but the frustration he'd just gone through the last fifteen minutes, wouldn't allow him to let the question drop. "That's it? You're going to accept who we are, just like that?"

Ben shrugged and nodded simply.

Devlin was flustered beyond comprehension at his uncle's easy acceptance of this situation. "It took me ten minutes of convincing, not to mention everything short of drawing blood-work to get _him_ to believe I'm his!" he pointed a frantic finger at his father.

Ben looked flippantly at Kevin than back at Devlin. "Kevin's paranoia when dealing with strangers hinges on psychotic." Was his straightforward explanation.

Devlin couldn't believe he was hearing this! He searched every face in the room and found a resigned form of agreement with his uncle's statement mimicked on all of them. Were they all insane? He threw his hands up exasperatedly. "You all just accept this from him? This is not an appropriate reaction to meeting new people! This isn't **_healthy_**!"

Kevin outright laughed at his son's outraged, yet reasonably accurate, assessment of this particular defect in his psyche.

Ben shot him a somewhat reprimanding look before regarding his nephew with a softer, sympathetic expression. "There are _many_ things about Kevin that no one would consider 'healthy'," he made the quotation marks with his fingers in the air as he said the last word, "but we all accept what has been proven to be uncorrectable. Besides, that particular quirk of his makes him an excellent judge of character."

Devlin slumped dejectedly at his uncle's explanation. He no longer had a dog in this fight. His father _was _exceedingly gifted at reading people. He'd just never figured this particular neurosis was responsible for it. Made sense, though.

Natural human curiosity had drawn Julie over to Kenny and she was eying him wonderingly.

The teenager could only stare back, unsure how he was supposed to approach her. Was he actually nervous? That was ridiculous! She was his mother. He loved her. He'd known her his whole life, albeit it, not this version of her but it was her. Same beautiful, dark hazel, almond-shaped eyes. Same charcoal black, hair (only much shorter, he noted). Same alabaster skin. Same smile, just younger and more vibrant. She was the spitting image of Gwenny, he realized, only slightly taller.

The thought of his sister brought on a pang of guilt. He'd been treating her rotten lately and now there was a chance he'd never lay eyes on her again.

No. He wasn't going to let that happen. He couldn't. They were going to annihilate Kevin 11,000 and he was going to go home and hug the daylights out of what he imagined would be his very confused baby sister.

As Julie scrutinized her son, she was inevitably drawn to his beautiful green eyes (the color was a perfect match to his father's) and noticed they weren't really focused on her as he stared. Ben got that look, a lot. She made the admittedly biased determination that her son was absolutely beautiful. Unbeckoned, her hand came up to caress the boy's cheek lovingly.

Kenny flinched out of his introspection at the feel of the soft contact of his teenage mother's hand against his face. Thinking she'd overstepped her boundaries at his sudden recoil, Julie made to retract her hand, but he quickly grasped her wrist to perpetuate the contact. She looked curiously at him, a soft adoring smile brightening her pale features.

"This is quite the head-trip... huh, Mom?"

Julie's smile widened even more at the designation. Yes. She found she absolutely loved the notion of being this boy's mother. "I've seen more than my share of _weird_ hanging out with your dad, but _you_ definitely 'take the cake'!"

Kenny returned his mother's smile with a dashing one of his own and leaned further into the hand she held against his cheek. It sucked that it took a circumstance like the one they faced to help him realize he worshiped this woman. "I should warn you, madam, flattery will get you everywhere with me," He remarked in mock suggestiveness.

Julie broke into giggles and immediately removed her hand from his cheek using it to whack him playfully on the chest. She turned to her boyfriend who had left the couch to join them. "He's definitely yours, Ben."

Ben wrapped an arm around her shoulders and took a closer look at his son. "Yep. I'm never going to be able to accuse you of cheating on me… that's for sure."

Julie elbowed him softly and rolled her eyes, landing them on her son once again. "Ignore him!" She scanned his face again. "You really didn't get much from my side of the family, did you?"

Kenny crossed his arms and considered this. Besides the texture of his hair, there was really only one feature gifted to him by his mother, "Actually, I do have your eyes, except for the color, but Gwenny, my little sister, looks just like you."

Ben's eyebrows darted up in excitement at the knowledge of having another child. "We have a little girl, too? We named her after Gwen? That's so awesome!"

Kenny smiled at his teenage father's effervescence and decided to mess with him a little. "Yes Dad, you got laid twice. Congratulations!"

Ben's face immediately fell into a mock pout and he pulled Julie closer in an effort to rally support. He wanted her to defend him. "Hey! Julie, your kid's making fun of me! Hit 'im!"

Julie giggled again at the absurdity of his command. What exactly was she being dragged to the middle of, here? To her credit, though, she did try her best at achieving an authoritative countenance as she regarded her son, but he wasn't making it any easier with his own snickering. "Now, now," she wagged her finger at him, trying desperately to keep up her straight face, "you shouldn't make fun of your father… wait… what's your name?"

Gwen gasped in realization, interjecting the family moment, frantically turning to her boyfriend. "Oh God, Kevin! We didn't even bother asking their names! We're the world's worst parents!"

Devlin, who had seated himself on the arm of the couch, took the distraught, self-deprecating comment as a hint he needed to assuage his mother's errant opinion of his upbringing. "First of all, Mom, trust me when I tell you that you are _all_ great parents, even him," he gestured at Kevin, who looked as shocked at the knowledge as everyone else, "believe it or not. Second, you've known about us all of twenty-five minutes. You haven't had a chance to ask."

Kenny decided to head up the introductions, since he was the first to be asked. "Hello Everyone! My name's Kenneth Maxwell Tennyson and I'm fifteen-years-old. I'm so glad to meet this version of all of you." Kenny sounded like he was at an 'Alcoholics Anonymous' meeting.

Ben chuckled at his son's quirkiness, as did Julie and Gwen.

Kevin eyed the kid as if he were a lunatic.

Devlin just brought his face down and his hand up under his bangs to put pressure on his closed eyes. His cousin really was an idiot. He performed a quick browse through his photographic memory for information on what they used in this time to treat headaches. He was sure he'd read it somewhere, at some point in his life. There it was! Ibuprofen and caffeine. He needed something with a really high dose of Ibuprofen and caffeine.

When he brought his hand down with a sigh, he found everyone looking at him expectantly. He gave a small casual wave. "Devlin Levin, I'm sixteen."

Something about this didn't sit right with Kevin. "I understand why we would name you Devlin. It's kinda a play on my dad and Gwen's names; but you were born first." he pointed at Kenny, "Why'd _he_ get named after Max and not you? I consider the old man like a father. Why wouldn't I name you Maxwell first?"

Devlin smiled understanding. He doubted his father at this age was going to like the answer to his own question, though, especially from what he had been able to appreciate thus far. _He_ didn't have any real problem with his middle name. He just never used it. He only _needed_ one. "You considered naming me Maxwell as a middle name before I was born, but I was never supposed to be an only child, so you went with your first option and left Max for later. Your first option was to name me after your best friend."

Kevin's face contorted into a horrified grimace at the implication. "Ah! Don't tell me…!"

Devlin let out an amusedly evil snort at his father's premonition. "My full name's Devlin Benjamin Levin."

Kevin face-palmed himself while Ben fist pumped the air. "Oh, yeah! Who's the man?"

"Shut up, Tennyson! Like you need anything else stroking your ginormous ego!" Kevin growled at the brunette.

Devlin attempted to console his father. "If it helps you any, Dad, if Gwenny would have been a boy, she was going to have one of your names, but since she arrived with the wrong kind of plumbing, they went with Mom's." Kevin actually did take some solace in that, but only some. Julie's tubes better not have been tied in the future. He wanted a nephew called Kevin or Ethan Tennyson.

Devlin now stood and shoved both hands in the front pockets of his hoodie regarding everyone in the room with a somber expression. "Guys, Kenny and I aren't here for a visit. We were sent here by Professor Paradox to warn you about an incredibly dangerous enemy who will arrive here in less than twenty-four hours."

Ben, who always seemed to focus on the most inconsequential things instead of what, was really important or even relevant, decided now was a good time to voice an inquiry. "Why Paradox? How'd you come across him?"

Devlin despised his uncle at that moment. He had absolutely no inclination to go into details. What was paramount now was coming up with a strategy to defeat Kevin 11,000!

Consequently, he couldn't have been more grateful to his cousin for supplying, "We got grounded, used a machine Dev built to escape to different dimensions. In one of them we saw a sociopathic version of him," he gestured at Kevin, "who murdered and absorbed over eleven-thousand different aliens, jump back in time to murder you," he pointed at his father, "when you were a kid. Then Paradox appeared and told us Kevin was actually here, in this dimension, in your time and that, as a result, in our present, you're all dead and we don't exist. So, he sent us here to warn you and help you stop him."

All four teenagers were equal parts impressed and horrified by Kenny's retelling of what had occurred to him and Devlin in what was to them, the last couple of hours.

Impressed: because the boy had gotten all that out in a single breath and horrified at the prospect of facing an alternate psychotic version of Kevin who was obviously stronger than even Aggregor had been.

When Ben spoke again, all vestiges of playfulness had drained from both his tone and visage. He was in 'Hero' mode, now. "When is he going to arrive?"

Devlin supplied the answer, "He's arriving in the desert sixty four miles southeast of Bellwood at 4:07 pm, tomorrow."

Ben crossed his arms contemplative for a moment then spoke again. "Alright, we'll contact Grandpa Max and have him meet us out there with whatever plumbers he can round-up in twenty-four hours."

Devlin and Kenny immediately exchanged panicked glances at the suggestion. How had Paradox known Uncle Ben would automatically suggest that? Is that what had transpired in their current present? Is that why everyone was dead? It was certainly easier to defeat Earth's entire defense if they were congregated in a single place and unprepared for the lethality of the foe who awaited them.

As if reading his cousin's mind, Kenny quickly put a hand on his father's shoulder, gaining his attention. "It's important that no one who's not in this room right now know about this, Dad," Devlin cringed at the obvious desperation that tinged his cousin's voice and hoped to God he could clean that up fast, "for their own protection. The less people we put in harm's way the better."

'_Nice save, Cuz!_' Devlin let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

Ben ruminated Kenny's shrift and concluded he agreed. It would leave them undermanned for the upcoming battle, but he definitely didn't want anyone else getting hurt if they could help it. Ben affectionately slapped his future son on the back. "I don't want anyone else getting hurt either. Good thinking, Ken!"

The younger brunette winced at the way his father shortened his name. "Actually, Dad, everyone calls me Kenny. Ken's my other uncle, Aunt Gwen's brother. I'm named after him."

Ben shrugged and shot him an apologetic look. "Sorry, Kenny. Okay, so it'll just be the five of us tomorrow against the 'evil' Kevin. We need to come up with a fight pla-" Ben was cut-off by an irate-sounding Julie.

"There are six of us here, Ben. Who are you excluding, exactly?" She crossed her arms firmly across her chest and eyed him accusingly.

Ben sighed, already seeing where this was going and attempted to wrap his arms around her, but she shrugged him off. He hated when she was difficult. "Julie there's absolutely no way I will allow you to face something as dangerous as this." Ben truly honestly hadn't meant it to come out as condescending as it had.

Julie was, understandably, outraged at his audacity in thinking he had any right whatsoever to _make_ her do _anything_. The nerve of this arrogant, presumptuous, vain… "I don't need you to _allow_ me to do anything Benjamin. Ship and I can be very useful out there and you know it! How dare you automatically assume I'd be useless in the fight! You don't even know if your son or Devlin can fight at all, yet you included _them_. You are such a chauvinistic, jerk!"

She wasn't sure at what point she'd started shouting, but all eyes were on her once the tirade ended. She immediately felt ashamed at blowing up like that in front of everyone and cast her eyes downward, letting out an exasperated breath. "I'm sorry about that everyone."

Kevin snorted. "Don't be. I think it's safe to say, everyone but Ben agrees with you."

Ben's eyes narrowed at him in an angry, jilted, glare and Julie looked up at him with a gracious smile. Kevin pointedly ignored his best friend's glare (the kid was wrong, he wasn't taking his side in this argument), "Besides Ben, we need her. That dog, or whatever, only really listens to her and it's one of the most powerful weapon's around."

"Ship's a Galvanic mechamorph, Kevin." Julie supplied helpfully still smiling at him.

Kevin liked Julie, but he really didn't like being corrected. "I said _whatever_, didn't I?"

Gwen elbowed him hard in the gut for being rude. "Ouch! What?"

Julie was giggling again.

Ben turned to his girlfriend. God, he loved the sound of her laugh! He hated Kevin for being right. He hated that she could help them. He hated the thought of anyone hurting a hair on her beautiful head. He let out a resigned breath. "Fine. But, at the first sign that things are going downhill for us, you're hightailing it out of their on Ship. You got it?"

It wasn't the understanding response she yearned for, but at least her boyfriend was trying. She knew that, regardless how poorly he phrased it, he was really trying to tell her he was worried for her safety. So she decided to be charitable and reward his attempt at forward-thinking by wrapping her arms around his neck and bring him down for a quick kiss.

Ben's response was spontaneous. He wrapped his arms around her waist and deepened the kiss, forgetting everyone else in the room.

"You know there _are_ children present here." Kenny tried to keep the retching sound from following his statement.

"No there aren't, moron. Just because you act like a three-year-old, doesn't mean the rest of us 'normal people' view you as one. All of us here are basically the same age."

At his inability to argue Devlin's frustratingly unflappable logic, Kenny did the only thing he could think of to break up his teenage parent's impromptu make-out session.

There was a sudden flash of green light and Spidermonkey shot twin streams of webbing at the kissing teens, then tugged with his superior strength in opposite directions, jerking his two very surprised parents apart.

Ben and Julie, both, turned flabbergasted eyes on the arachnachimp, who tapped the Plumbers insignia on his chest and reverted back into Kenny in a flash of green light. "Please, don't do that in front of me… it's really disturbing and to answer your remark from before, Mom…" Kenny pulled up the sleeve of his jacket exposing the Omnitrix on his wrist. "I_ do_ know how to handle myself in a fight." He gestured to Devlin. "_He's_ a half Osmosian, half Anodyte freak, who's been practicing martial arts since he learned to walk… so he's good to go tomorrow, too."

The dark-haired, green-eyed teen let out an insulted huff at his cousin's oversimplification of his abilities, but otherwise remained silent. Kenny was not worth it.

"Okay." Ben stated with finality, still fazed by what his future son had just said and done. "So we'll all meet here tomorrow morning. It's probably a good idea if we hatch out the details of how we're doing this when we're all over the shock of meeting you guys," he nodded at Kenny and Devlin, "at least a little. We're all too wired to get much else accomplished tonight. All agreed?" He looked around the room for assertions and was pleased when all those convene agreed.

"Where are they going to stay until tomorrow? Have you guys had dinner yet? Dinner's at six at my place." Julie really didn't want to leave her son so soon. She had a million more questions to ask him. She wanted to be with him. Especially, now that she knew what tomorrow might bring. She found herself latching on to the boy's arm and leaning herself against him protectively. She didn't even know where it was coming from, but she wanted to be close.

Kenny didn't mind at all. He leaned his head affectionately against the top of his teenage mother's.

"Um, it was like, two hours past breakfast when we left our time…" Devlin answered truthfully and then added as an after thought, "I could use something for a headache, though. Transportations take a lot out of me."

Gwen gave her son a comprehending look and moved toward him, softly shoving him off the armrest and down into a sitting position on the couch. "I can certainly sympathize with that," she coddled tenderly as she ran her delicate fingers through Devlin's bangs, swooping them back all the way to where his hair was tied back. She ran her nails along his scalp as she went, releasing the pent-up stress there.

Devlin slumped into her with a slight shudder, his forehead landing on her abdomen as the headache started to melt. Had he mentioned he loved this woman?

Smiling at her son's familiar response, (Kevin loved it when she did this, too) she pulled out the tie to his hair. It couldn't be helping the headache to have his hair pulled back like that. The moment it was freed, a thick cascade of straight, raven-black mane cascaded just past his shoulders.

Gwen looked at him appreciatively a moment as she continued to massage her fingers through his hair and scalp infusing them with her own manna. She knew she could heal minor injuries with life energy. Headaches were no big deal. "Devlin, why exactly do I allow you to keep your hair this long?" Her question was both inquisitive and amused.

Devlin was enjoying the relieving attention she was giving him far too much to get into this. He was barely coherent. All she received as a response was a lackadaisically, muffled, "I'm not cutting my hair, Mom. Dad's is longer." The slightly annoyed pitch to her son's timbre, gave Gwen inkling this was not a new argument.

Gwen shot Kevin, who looked slightly jealous of the attention she was giving her son, but quickly schooled his features into indifference a glance. Then she regarded her son again. He was still reclining into her stomach. "You mean, in the future Kevin has longer hair than yours?" Devlin nodded his head against her belly in reply. She giggled lightly. The motion tickled. "Why in the world would I let _him_ grow his hair that long?"

"You find it sexy." Came the deadpan reply from the relaxed teenager.

Gwen bit her bottom lip with a blush at this revelation and tentatively glanced back at her boyfriend. Yes. Kevin would undoubtedly look hot with longer hair, she decided.

The look Gwen was sending him made his mouth run uncomfortably dry and there were far too many spectators to do anything about it, so Kevin decided a change of topic was indispensable. "Devlin can come with me. I doubt either of you girls' folks would appreciate you bringing home some random guy as an overnight guest."

"I'll take Kenny," Ben pitched, "My parents are leaving to a psychiatry colloquium later tonight for the weekend. So you just have to keep him out of sight 'til then."

"Good. We need to leave right now, so you can drop Julie off at home and the rest of us at the garage." At Julie's instant crestfallen face and tightened grip on Kenny's arm, Kevin added in a softer commiserative tone, looking at her, "I need to finish working on my ride and take Gwen home. After that, I'll drop Kenny off back here before heading home with Devlin. I'm coming back here late, Julie. Gwen's parents understand why she's out 'till all hours of the night with me and Ben, yours won't and Kenny can't stay with you." He was sad to separate them but this wasn't a game.

Julie relinquished her hold on her son with a defeated nod and wrapped her arms around herself, eyes downcast. Her forlorn expression didn't change. Kenny's heart ached at seeing her so sad, but he had no inclination as to another way this would work.

Ben came up to her, wrapping her in his arms comfortingly. "Don't go to bed. I'll video conference you as soon as he's here and you can talk to him all you want. That sound good?"

He glanced down at her and was rewarded with a radiantly grateful smile and a butterfly-kiss. "Thank you, Ben."

Now that, this issue was resolved, "Can I help on the Challenger?" Devlin's aspect was alight with hope and excitement at the prospect of getting to work on his father's precious 'ride'.

"You into cars?" Kevin's question had an unbidden tinge of pride to it.

"You're kidding right?" Devlin eyed him as if he'd asked him his gender. "I'm made up of half your genetic material! I'm practically wired to like cars. Besides, you never let me work on it back home."

Kevin eyed him appraisingly and then spoke without an ounce of conviction. "We'll see."

Devlin's shoulders slumped in disappointment. "You suck so bad, man."

Kevin smirked sadistically.

**A/N: Please Review**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: The next two chapters are transitional. They need to be here to excuse the passage of time in this fic. I don't want anyone thinking I'm prolonging this any more than I have to.**

**Disclaimer: Man of Action owns Ben 10 and all the characters in this story. I'm grateful they let me use them.**

**Enjoy!**

Back at Kevin's garage, Devlin worked happily under the Challenger.

Kenny kept him company. He entertained himself by talking an endless array of nonsensical crap while handing the raven-haired teen tools upon his request. The cousins had worked together on Devlin's car before many times. It was always liked this. Devlin liked the convenience of having a personal tool caddy. Kenny liked the companionship and to talk endlessly. It worked.

Kenny made the lack of siblings inconsequential to Devlin. His cousin had been there since he was ten and a half months old. The only time they'd been separated for any extended amount of time was when he'd spent six months on Anodine training with their great-grandmother (Verdona had been adamant that he go alone. Not even Gwen was invited. She was still cross at her granddaughter for refusing her when she was a teenager).

Gwen watched the boys from the doorway to the office with a smile, a retrospective look adorning her mien for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

Kevin sidled up to her from behind, causing her to jump slightly as he wrapped his muscled arms around her lithe waist and pulled her further into the office, away form the doorway. He sat on his desk and pulled her onto his lap, her arms coming around his neck to play with his raven locks distractedly.

"Weird night?" He ventured, noting her dreamy unfocused look. She had been in La-La Land since their son arrived. She had barely torn her eyes away from the kid for more than five minutes. The younger teenager was getting the attention she usually bestowed on him. He really didn't want to feel jealous of the boy, but he wasn't particularly good at _sharing_.

Gwen finally focused on his obsidian eyes and smiled ethereally, "That's an understatement isn't it? I mean, look at him, Kevin! He's amazing! _We_ did that!"

The adoring, awed expression on her amazingly, brilliant jade eyes made his heart constrict with an emotion he had yet to admit even to himself. At the moment, it felt like it was suffocating him. That emotion _needed_ an outlet. He found himself inexorably compelled to bridge the space between them, placing a lingering, passionate, loving kiss on her silken lips. He was certain he would never be able to communicate with words to her how he felt about her.

When they broke apart, after what seemed like an eternity but in fact was only a few minutes, their foreheads remained touching. "We do good work." He agreed in a buoyant tone. Onyx eyes pierced emerald intensely as he added, "He has your eyes."

Gwen giggled, lightheartedly, "He has _your _everything else! That's got to be one heck of an ego boost!"

Kevin wrapped his arms even tighter around her in response, effectively sliding her further up his thighs and crushing her to him. His eyes burned with a possessiveness she'd never known in them before. "You have no idea!"

His voice had been nothing more than a deep guttural, growl she'd felt more than heard through the contact of their compressed chests. The kiss that had instantly followed was completely different from the one they'd shared moments before. This one was hungry, ferociously intimate, searching, burning. It was as if he was trying to brand her as his with his avaricious mouth.

This is what Kenny and Devlin walked into as they entered from the garage upon Devlin completing his work on his father's car.

Now, generally Devlin wasn't really disturbed by normal kissing on the part of his parents. If anything, their public shows of affection and the pride they openly demonstrated in their relationship was something he'd always aspired to and hoped to emulate whenever he found a girl he cared about enough to want to show that much emotion. However, that was what he felt in regards to _normal kissing_.

What the teenage version of his parents were currently doing for both he and his cousin (who was probably getting some sick thrill out of watching it, the little Weirdo!) to see, was completely inappropriate in a public setting. So, he cleared his throat loudly to announce their presence. He allowed the indignation he felt at the display to tinge the sound he emitted, the end result being a menacing snarl.

His mother noticed and tried to pull out of the kiss but his father held on tight and even strengthened his grip on her waist, pulling her back.

'_Son of a… He's doing this on purpose!_' "That's enough, Dad! The car's done. We gotta go!"

Kevin smirked against Gwen's mouth as his grip on her waist slackened and she was finally able to extricate herself from the mind-blowing kiss. She sent him a playful, recriminating, pointed look as she slid of his lap. Then she turned to her son, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment at being caught by the teens doing _that_. She avoided his eyes. "I just need to use the restroom a second and we can go."

With that, she left towards the back of the office with Kevin staring unabashed at her behind as she went. As soon as she disappeared through the door, he turned his attention to the raven-haired teen who regarded him with open disapproval. He smirked genially in return. It was nobody's business what he did or didn't do with _his_ girlfriend. That was between the two of _them_.

Devlin walked over to his father and stood directly in front of him (it was nice being the same height as him for once). He spoke with only seriousness etching every syllable. "Dad, does Mom know that about… oh, I don't know… _all_ the alien tech in your car is one hundred percent illegal, not only on earth, but in at least eleven other star systems?"

Devlin didn't look at his teenage father as he asked this, preferring to examine the 'grease' he was presently wiping off his hands with a rag. Both Levins knew it wasn't 'grease'. It wasn't even an alkaloid and it was decidedly _not_ of earthly origin.

Kevin smirked with genuine pride as he crossed his arms and one of his legs over the other, appraising the teen before him. He was impressed! Not at the pathetically, transparent attempt at blackmailing him, of course (you'd think a kid of _his_ would be better at it than _that_) but at the kid's obviously extensive knowledge of alien technology and interstellar law. The kid really was something.

That inevitable pesky affection that kept creeping into Kevin's chest whenever this boy was around, materialized again. However, it was in conflict with something else inside him that he felt towards this boy. It was something dark he couldn't quite put his finger on, but he knew it had something to do with Gwen.

As with all other emotions he felt that were too complicated to decipher, he buried it and simply smirked. "Nope."

Devlin now looked up at his father with a triumphant smirk that had, 'I've got something on you', written all over it. He knew from his father's own account that he wasn't completely on the right side of the law in this time. However, what he had witnessed in that vehicle now told him, his father had grossly downplayed his past. He wouldn't seriously out him to his mother, though. It was just so gratifying to finally one-up the smug bastard.

The feeling of triumph, however, was fleeting once Kevin spoke his next words. "Do either of you two wanna tell me the _real_ reason Max and the other Plumbers can't know what's gonna happen tomorrow?" Kevin purposely said this with the exact same smirk his son had worn seconds before.

Devlin's visage instantly sobered and he exchanged a nervous glance with Kenny.

Kevin scoffed and jumped off the table as Gwen emerged back through the door at the far end of the office. He pocketed both hands in his jeans and leaned forward, towards Devlin, speaking in a voice loud enough for only the three male teenagers to hear. "Yeah, I didn't think so… You're outta your league here, kids."

With that, he wrapped an arm around his now arrived beautiful redhead and led her out of the office and on to his awaiting 'ride'.

Kenny turned to Devlin with a deeply impressed yet bewildered expression on his face. "How does he, always do that?"

Devlin threw up both hands in defeat and shook his head, frustrated.

They both followed Kevin and Gwen out to the car.

* * *

><p>-Nighttime at Ben's House-<p>

The car ride to his father's had been uneventful. It had been well past eleven o'clock at night, but Kevin had agreed to swing them by both Burger Shack _and _Mr. Smoothy. Considering Mr. Smoothy was entirely his idea, he considered the act right down charitable on the part of his uncle (whom he had a feeling didn't really like him much in this time. Then again, did he like him much back home?). Let's just say, his Aunt Gwen had a big part in making him do it.

So after getting dinner and smoothies for both him and his dad they dropped him off.

Kenny had talked with his mother via the computer for an hour, fielding endless questions about his home, their life, Gwenny, etc. It made his mother so happy to talk to him. He found himself unable to break away from the screen.

When she started yawning uncontrollably after every other word, though, he knew it was time to say goodnight. She sent him a loving kiss through the monitor and he turned to his father who'd been watching their discussion from the bed.

"She's really great, isn't she?" He asked the older brunette teenager, the love-filled haze in his green eyes keeping him from noticing the reluctant look his father was giving him.

Ben was afraid to ask. He and Julie had been having so many problems lately. Obviously, if they had conceived two children, they were able to get past them for at least a couple of years. But, what about beyond that? "Are we…Are we still together in your time, Kenny? Does she… still love me?"

Kenny was honestly, caught of guard by his father's seemingly out of nowhere question and had to think a moment to respond. Ben took his hesitation as bad news and his face fell.

Noticing his father's reaction, Kenny quickly spoke up. "She hasn't left you, Dad," when his father's eyes shot up again excitedly, Kenny thought better of his answer. His parent's relationship was nuanced and although they loved each other unconditionally, he knew his mother back home deserved better than that oversimplified response. "But you like to flirt, Dad. You like to flirt, a lot."

Ben ruminated his son's response and couldn't find anything questionable with the behavior that was being designated to him, so he shrugged with a haphazard smile. "Flirting is harmless."

Kenny's ire sparked immediately at the uncaring reply. He was well aware he'd inherited his father's aloofness, but seeing it expressed so clearly and ignorantly was infuriating even to him. No wonder his parents argued! This was maddening! "No, it's not harmless, Dad! Not when it secretly tortures the one woman who truly loves you and puts up with your never-ending crap or the fact that you're not even there half the time."

"It's not harmless when the woman you love and devoted your life to is at home raising _your_ teenage children while tramps _my_ age are trying to get in your pants without you having the decency to tell them to shove off. It's not harmless to play with fire, Dad. You're idiotically risking everything you've built with an angel that you honestly, don't deserve half the time for some floozy's attention. Just to stroke your own ego. Does that sound _harmless _to you, Dad?"

Ben was no longer able to hold his teenage son's gaze at the contrition he felt. He was a complete idiot! Empathizing with others had always been difficult for him. He honestly, just saw everything differently from everyone else, on a different level. It was what helped him visualize ways of using the Omnitrix even geniuses like Azmuth couldn't wrap their heads around. The downside was that it made him oblivious to the simplest things, like the effect his actions had on the feelings of those he cared about most. "I had no idea it hurt her so much." His voice was a strained whisper.

Kenny, however, wasn't finished venting his anger at his father and therefore, was incapable of feeling sympathy for him just yet. He'd wanted to get this out for years. He may as well do it now if Devlin had to erase his memories either way. "Knowing wouldn't make as much of a difference as you think, Dad. You're so self-absorbed, even if you feel terrible about it now… the next time a pretty girl bats an eye at you, you'll forget about Mom and you're going to flirt. It's who you are! In that moment, all that matters is what Benjamin Tennyson wants. What will gratify _you_? I swear, the only reason you haven't _physically_ cheated on Mom, is the fact that somewhere in that thick skull of yours, you know that she's the only woman you could ever, possibly, love to the point you have actually ki-" Kenny broke-off his rant there abruptly. His eyes widened in realization at what he idiotically almost let slip in his mindless rage.

Ben instantly locked eyes with his son pleadingly. He was horrified at what he thought the boy was going to say, but something deep within compelled him to _need_ that statement finished.

Kenny sighed reluctantly, but decided if he'd come this far… he may as well tell him. He wasn't capable of staying angry for very long with his father, a trait he knew he'd inherited from his mother. Besides, the despair he saw in his teenage father's green eyes, tugged at his heart in a way that made him want to do anything to comfort him even if he knew what the wielder of the Ultimatrix wanted to know would be no comfort at all. "You believe everyone is redeemable, Dad. Everyone deserves a fair trial. You're not a vigilante. You're a Plumber… a law enforcer. You follow the rule of law and even when the law allows you to use excessive force to bring someone down, you don't. You always think up a clever way to keep yourself from using deadly force. It's sort of your cardinal rule."

"A year after you and Mom got married, you and Uncle Kevin where sent off-world on a mission. Devlin was less than a year old, so Aunt Gwen stayed behind. She was in London with him on some ambassadorial thing. Back then, your headquarters was just the penthouse floor of a building near Mount Rushmore. It had security, but it was minimal."

"One night a gang of criminals you'd thrown into the Null Void broke out and decided to break-in to your compound for some retribution. They had no idea you were out. They found Mom. Ship tried to protect her but they'd come prepared for him. They used something to deactivate him and held Mom hostage. They didn't hurt her, but they did force her to summon you back to earth, demanding that you surrender yourself in exchange for her life." Kenny could see the outrage building in his father's eyes as he recounted what his uncle had once told him.

"To make a long story short, you were not happy when you came back with Uncle Kevin and a half dozen other elite Plumbers amongst which where Allen, Cooper and Manny. They took care of the lackeys and you went after the ringleader, who was holding Mom. Finding himself cornered, he figured if he was going down, you were going to loose something, too." Kenny paused and regarded his father with a sympathetic frown now, his voice becoming low and sad.

"He stabbed Mom in the abdomen. According to Uncle Kevin, he was aiming for her liver. A kill shot." Ben gasped and his eyes snapped wide in horrified grief. Kenny continued as fast as he could in the hope that ending the story faster would make it hurt less for his father, "The only thing that saved her was the fortunate circumstance that her liver was displaced a few inches because she was thirty-six weeks pregnant with me at the time. You, however, didn't know that. All you saw was the woman you loved and your unborn son bleeding out on the floor at the hands of a ruthless murderer."

Ben already knew what Kenny was going to say next. He'd always known what he'd do if anyone hurt his Julie. It was his greatest fear. His secret weakness. "Dad, you snapped his neck in three different places. You didn't even transform. You used your bare hands. Uncle Kevin had to rip you away from the guy. Even then, you only relented when he told you Mom still had a pulse and she needed you more." Kenny's voice held no accusation at all as he recounted the only time his father had ever taken another life, only admiration that the act had been incited by the love for his mother.

"After that, Mom spent her last month of pregnancy at the hospital. The first night they lost her twice and you had to make an unbelievably difficult choice: end the pregnancy and risk loosing me or keep me and risk loosing her. "Kenny once again looked in his father's lost green eyes and smiled sadly, encouragingly. "You wisely, chose her. I was struggling, but at nearly full term, I could make it and I did… we both did."

"While Mom was in the hospital you commissioned a new building built for your headquarters. Cooper and Uncle Kevin designed the security system to it. The place is a fortress, Dad. You had Azmuth upgrade Ship, so he is no longer susceptible to being disabled by nearly anything. Ever since that night, you've made sure no one can ever get at Mom again and you protect me and Gwenny like it's an obsession." Kenny smirked evilly remembering something else. "You and Aunt Gwen even guilted Devlin into carpooling us to school. He's our own little guard dog!" Kenny's attempt to lighten the mood failed miserably.

Ben hid his face in his hands, overwhelmed by the enormity of what his son had revealed. He'd almost lost Julie! He'd almost lost their infant son! He'd taken a life! Yes. It was likely in self defense and certainly in defense of his family, but if he'd kept his temper under control… God! He'd killed a man! It was every nightmare he'd ever had since putting on this stupid watch! What was worse, he was still managing to hurt her, after putting her through all that. Why was she still with him? He couldn't help the self-deprecating tears that rolled down his face.

Kenny made his way to his father on the bed and wrapped his arms around the distraught teen. It was obvious he didn't understand why he'd bothered telling him all of this. "_That _is why she loves you, Dad. Why we_ all_ love you. Why she puts up with all your shortcomings and why _you_ will never mess around on her, regardless of how many women you flaunt yourself in front of. You can't change who you are and although Mom doesn't like it and believe me when I tell you that you hear about it frequently. In the end, she knows her uniquely special place in the universe. She's the only woman you would ever compromise your principles for. That day you proved to yourself and everyone else that Julie Yamamoto is the only woman you would ever stop being 'The Savior of the Universe' for. That day you were just Benjamin Kirby Tennyson avenging the only woman you could ever love."

When they separated Kenny smiled at him proudly, "And I'm just like you, Dad. The only reason I'm telling you this now is that I worship you too much in my time to ever admit there's anything wrong with you ('_and therefore myself_', Kenny realized). You're _my_ hero."

Ben ruffled his son's chestnut hair affectionately and smiled gratefully as the boy giggled. He really didn't deserve him. He knew there was no way he was going to be allowed to keep this knowledge. No one should know so much about their own future. Paradox likely already had a plan to wipe his memories. He didn't want his son to keep this bottled up, though. "Kenny, you have to tell me you feel this way when you get back. If you're really so much like me, you _know_ I'm oblivious. I'll try to change for Julie and for you kids. I need you to tell me, Son. Help me keep my family happy."

Kenny smiled radiantly at his teenage father. Maybe this trip would turn out to be worthwhile, after all. If they could defeat the threat that was about eighteen hours away, that is. Then, as was often the case, something random popped into his head. "Um, Dad? Are we both sharing this bed? 'Cause I'm pretty sure I'm not cool with that idea." Kenny was gesturing at where they were sitting with a grimace.

Ben busted out laughing as he wiped his tearstained face on the sleeve of his jacket before he got up and lead Kenny to the spare bedroom down the hall.

**A/N: Please Review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Man of Action owns Ben 10 and all the characters in this story. I'm grateful they let me use them.**

**Enjoy!**

-Nighttime at Kevin's House-

Devlin casually appraised what was his dad's garage apartment as the older raven-haired teenager busied himself pulling out the sofa bed in the small living room. The younger teen noted above all that it was very neat. Huh. He'd always guessed he'd inherited his nearly obsessive tendency to be organized from his mother. "Dad, do _you_ keep this place this tidy?"

Kevin looked up from his task and gave a quick sweep of his place, noticing for the first time its current state. He spent so little time here, he rarely noticed its condition. "Nah. Ma comes in every once in a while and picks up the place. She does dishes, laundry and whatever. I guess she's been in here recently." He shrugged and went back to what he was doing.

That made a lot more sense, although it brought up a different concern for the younger teenager. "Grandma's not going to barge in here, is she?"

Although he would have liked to see the younger version of his father's mother, he knew it was imperative that no one else saw him or Kenny.

Kevin didn't look at him as he got two pillows and some blankets from his bedroom for the sofa bed. "Nope. It's past midnight. She doesn't come in here if my car is outside unless I call her over. Plus, she's got work tomorrow."

For some reason, Devlin felt sorry for his grandmother suddenly. He knew she'd had it rough, loosing her husband in her early twenties and dealing with a psychotically violent half-breed son she barely understood. "You should pick up after yourself if your mother works." He couldn't help chastise his teenage father.

Kevin didn't bother checking the acute spike in his temper at his son's 'suggestion'. How dare this little moron question how he treated his own mother! He'd do anything for her! The mortgage to this house was under _his_ name. _He_ paid half her bills. He never once asked her to come up here and do anything for him. She liked taking care of him. It made her feel useful. As if she was making up for the time he'd stolen from them both when he was locked up in the Null Void. "You can shove your comments about my mom, Kid!"

Devlin was taken aback by the slight, but his temperament rose to match his father's instantaneously. That was uncalled for. He'd just shown concern for his grandmother's well-being and his dad had blown-up at him. Well he was decidedly a Levin and he was not going to let that slide. "What is your problem with me, Man?"

Kevin hadn't expected the kid to back down._ He_ wouldn't back down and his son had already shown they shared the same stubborn streak, but he expected an argument, not a logical question. Especially, one he had absolutely no idea how to answer.

Kevin found his anger replaced by confusion and that odd dark sensation from before with Gwen. However, he didn't know how to negotiate feelings he didn't understand, so he did what he always did in these instances. He clammed-up and averted his son's piercing emerald gaze as he responded. "Nothing."

'_Bull!_' Devlin shortened the distance between himself and his father until he stood directly in front of him. He could see the older teenager tense at his proximity. He didn't care. He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at his father. Even if Kevin wasn't meeting his eyes, the younger teenager knew he was making him incredibly uncomfortable. Devlin hated when someone gawked at him. "Excluding some minor differences gifted to me by Mom, I have your exact psychological profile, Dad. I can't think like you because we've had very different life experiences, but I can definitely feel things the way you can and I can certainly tell you hold some kind of animosity towards me."

Kevin raised his eyes and looked at his son. He noted his posture and demeanor curiously, especially his eyes. Did the kid know how much he looked like Gwen when he stood and glared like that? That image made something in his mind click and he moved back to sit on the sofa bed thoughtfully. He looked up at his son when he had a proper response to offer. "I don't like other guys making time with my girl," he deadpanned.

Jealousy? His dad was _jealous _of him? This was inconceivable to Devlin.

Kevin Ethan Levin (at least _his_ version) was one of the most self-assured people alive! The younger teen had never conceived his father had self esteem issues as a teenager. Albeit it, every teenager has some kind or another, but this was such a ridiculous concept to associate with his dad. He was unbelievably handsome and his mom fawned all over him! Forget the fact that it was absolutely absurd for him to feel jealousy towards his own freaking son!

"That's so stupid, Dad!" When his father's onyx gaze morphed into an angry, insulted sneer, Devlin just huffed and continued. "I'm not some random guy trying to get at Mom. I'm _your_ biological son. I'm a product of both of you. I came out of her… quite painfully I might add, according to the way she tells it."

When humor replaced the angry look in his father's eyes, Devlin sat next to him on the sofa bed, turning to regard the older teenager cryptically. "All my life, you've never once cared about the attention Mom gives me. If anything, quite the opposite- Why do you suppose it's bothering you so much now?"

Kevin thought about it for a moment. "That's not even a fair question, Dude. When you were a baby and a little kid you needed your mom. Even now, you still need her. I need mine. Everyone does. I would have been a monster to keep her from you." Kevin winced at the terminology he'd inadvertently chosen to describe himself.

"But you showed up almost the same age as me, Man! You look like me. You sound like me. And Gwen has an instant connection to you that I can't even compete with." When Devlin tried to interject here, Kevin raised his hand to stop him. "The rational part of my mind knows it's maternal and honestly, there's this weird feeling I get about you, too. Like, I know I'd mangle anyone who'd ever try to touch you the wrong way."

Devlin smiled affectionately at his teenage father after that last part, "But, there's a dark, twisted, irrational part of me that wants to hurt you every time she touches you, Devlin." And, just like that, the smile was gone.

Strangely, though, the younger raven-haired teenager was finding he could relate, remembering his reaction back at the garage. He realized he had more in common with his father than he thought. "I want to throttle you for shoving your tongue down her throat _publicly_ every chance you get."

He shot his father a sideways glance and smiled understandingly. Kevin smirked back. Neither was going to promise to refrain form the mutually affronting behaviors, though. They were Levins.

Then a disturbing thought occurred to Devlin and he looked down at where they were sitting, a disgusted look twisting his attractive visage. "Dad? You and Mom haven't… on here, right?"

Kevin snickered, deciding to capitalize on the opportunity to traumatize the kid. "You shouldn't ask questions you don't really want to know the answer to, Devlin."

At the horrified expression on his son's face and his attempt to flee the sofa bed, Kevin put a hand on his shoulder and forcefully pulled him back down. He was laughing so hard his sides hurt. So, he threw himself back on the bed, propping himself up on his elbows as he regarded his son's recriminating and confused sneer. He threw his head back a moment to catch his breath and crack his neck. Then he looked back down and spoke with humor lazing every word. "Kid, your mom and I haven't done _anything_ past making-out _anywhere_."

Devlin literally sagged with relieve at the knowledge that he wouldn't be sleeping on a bed his parents were having sex in. He found the fact that his teenage parents weren't doing_ it_ at all quite the uplifting surprise, actually.

Kevin's curiosity got the better of him as he watched his son. "Actually, I was hoping you could shed some light on when exactly, you know…" Kevin wiggled his thick eyebrows suggestively as the unspoken conclusion to his statement.

Devlin blanched and his face twisted in revulsion. His scandalized jade eyes almost popping out of his head. No way, was his father asking him this! "Ah, Dad! Gross! Seriously! How can you ask me that? What's wrong with you, Dude?"

Kevin just smirked haphazardly as if he'd asked about the weather. He looked at his son expectantly. He really wanted to know.

Devlin brought a hand up to rub the frustration out of his disbelieving eyes. Maybe, if he gouged them out, he'd distract his father from this humiliating inquiry. He could feel the heat rising up his neck and into his cheeks. His father really was one twisted, sick, mother… "All I know is that you eloped after your second year of college-" Kevin interrupted there excited at the knowledge they didn't have a formal engagement. He could only think of one reason why. "Did we have to elope because I knocked her up?"

Devlin's hand instantly came down and his green eyes locked with his father's in a menacing glare. "I swear, Dad, you speak one more time about Mom that way and I'll sock you." Kevin scoffed in response. He wasn't trying to disrespect Gwen. He'd never do that. The kid obviously didn't know him as well as he thought.

Devlin huffed out an exasperated breath and continued. "You eloped out in space, in the middle of nowhere." At his father's confused stare, the younger teenager elaborated. "Your unique affiliation with the criminal element of the universe translated into your becoming an excellent Plumber. You climbed the ranks very quickly and were given your first command at the age of twenty-one," this got Kevin listening intently.

"On one of your first deep-space missions as commander, Mom was assigned as your second in command along with Uncle Ben. It was a peace negotiation, but someone who was against the treaty attacked and Mom was hurt bad. She was out for a week. The moment she came to, you ordered her to marry you, right there. It was sort of an impulse thing…, which both of us tend to do… a lot.

Kevin scoffed, smirking at the idea of Gwendolyn Tennyson following such and absurd _order_. "How did I get her to follow the command to marry me? We both know that red-head's way to fiery to go along with something that chauvinistic."

"Way she tells it, she took pity on you and found you endearing." Devlin smirked evilly as the blow to his father's ego flashed briefly across the older teenager's demeanor. Kevin knew that was exactly how she would have worded it, though. That was his Gwen.

"I came along roughly eleven months later. Mom spent her sophomore year in college pregnant and had to finish her senior year and her internship with an infant in stride, but she did it all. She's amazing! She's set the bar unreachably high for all the girls_ I_ date, though. I go through girlfriends like they're potato chips. Although, technically one of those was your fault," Devlin sent his father, who looked completely oblivious to what he could be referring to, a scathingly accusing look, "She fell for you and dumped me when you rejected her."

Kevin laughed. This was too rich! "How old was this girl?" He just _had_ to ask.

Devlin still looked dejected at the memory as he responded, "Fourteen."

Oh, this was wrong! Kevin's stomach dropped in revulsion as he did some quick math. "How old was _I_ when this happened, Devlin?" What kind of issues could this little girl have had?

"You were thirty-eight." Devlin replied flatly. He really wanted to change the subject already.

Kevin sucked in a hissing breath through his teeth and grimaced. He sat up and put a sympathetic hand on his son's shoulder. He squeezed comfortingly. "Yeah. That's harsh, Kid! But, you dodged a bullet there. That little girl has some serious 'daddy issues'." When his son turned to him with a sad smile, he added, "Don't be surprised to find her hitting the pole soon." Both Levin teenagers started laughing at that.

Kevin then sobered and looked down at his hands as if trying to find a way to ask his future son something. "Devlin, back at Tennyson's you said I was a great dad. Did you mean it?"

Devlin regarded his father confused. _That_ had come-out-of-left-field. "Yeah, Dad. You're the kind of parent that asks his future son if he knows when exactly he got to bang his mom."

Kevin looked up at him, annoyance and anger once again tingeing his features. "I'm being serious, Devlin."

Devlin gave his father a contrite smile and a shrug. "So am I, Dad. This," he swept his hand, gesturing to the both of them sitting on the sofa bed, "Is us- pretty much. You are entirely too familiar with me, which I love, by the way. You stopped treating me like a kid years ago. Half the time you're more my friend than my dad."

Kevin liked the sound of that. He never had the opportunity to get to know his father and one of his greatest fears was that the day he became one; he'd screw it up royally. Then something his son said caught his attention. "What am I to you the other half of the time?"

Devlin was prepared for this and sent his most devious smirk his father's way. "The other half of the time, you're grounding me for something stupid I've done. Did I mention…? I'm actually grounded right now… your doing. I think Kenny mentioned it before. The device I built to jump dimensions wasn't meant to be used as a means to escape from my own house, but you've gotten really good over the years at caging me in, Dad. I really wanted to rub it in your face that anything you could come up with to hold me in- I could circumvent. I was really pissed at you. I'm secretly terrified of what your demented mind will come up with if you ever find out I've done _this_ to get out of this grounding. I keep you on your toes; _that's_ for sure." There was a definitive edge of cockiness to the younger teenager's voice throughout the dissertation.

At Kevin's outraged, chastising glare Devlin's smirk intensified and he whispered conspiratorially, "I have a secret to tell you, Dad… I have a serious problem with authority." The statement was followed by a disturbing chuckle the older teen found all too familiar.

God! Forget about the kid being _like_ him. This kid _was_ him; only with Gwen's book smarts. In that moment, Kevin hoped to God they had taken every precaution to keep this kid's sanity in check because if they didn't, he couldn't think of anyone more dangerous.

Curiously though, instead of getting angry at the disrespectful words he read something completely different into the statement- something terrifying. "God, Devlin! Am I going to beat the crap out of you? Is that something I do?" Kevin's inquiry came out in a panicked shriek. He knew he tended to get violent when his temper flared out of control, but he had never hurt Gwen when he was in his right mind. Now, he was terrified he abused his own son!

Devlin snapped his entire body towards his father. He looked as if he'd been insulted. Was his father actually insane? "Dad, the only time you've ever lifted a finger against me was when you smacked me in the back of the head a few hours ago and I'm not counting that. Mom's the disciplinarian and she takes her frustrations out on me when we spar; so even _that's_ constructive. She's the one who trains me. You've never even sparred with me. I have no idea what fighting style you even use. Though, from what I hear from the Plumbers that serve under you, the only_ style_ you use to beat anybody is 'savagely'."

Kevin had to smirk at that. The kid had his sense of humor. Not to mention, he knew how to word things in a way that made him feel better about his insecurities without even trying, just like Gwen. He loved this kid!

'_Ouch! Oh, Crap!_' The new emotion hit hard. Kevin was bad at dealing with feelings that weren't negative, but there was no denying it now. He loved this smart-mouthed, cocky, temperamental, brilliantly intelligent, green-eyed miniature version of himself. He loved his son!

So, he did what any immature seventeen-year-old would do to show affection to a loved one.

Before Devlin could react, his teenage father had his arm around his neck and was giving him a Noogie. It was so unexpected and he was laughing so hard… the younger teen couldn't find the leverage he needed to break the hold.

Kevin finally let go and threw his son, who was still laughing uncontrollably, back onto the sofa bed. He himself was snickering as he got up and walked to his room, shutting off the light to the living room on the way. "Go to sleep, Squirt. We have a long day tomorrow."

With that, Devlin was left alone in the dark, gasping for air.

* * *

><p>-The Next Morning, Ben's House-<p>

When both Julie and Gwen had grocery bags filled with breakfast items in their possession upon their respective boyfriends' arrival to pick them up at their homes that morning; neither of the boys really questioned it.

Now, as the four teenage males sat in the Tennyson living room listening to the arguing teenage girls in the kitchen and the occasional sound of a pan hitting the counter violently, they really wished they had commented on it earlier.

"Julie, pancakes are way better than French toast!" They heard the red-head's frustrated, annoyed voice, which was immediately echoed by the Asian-American's and matched the pitch and emotion. "Ben likes French toast… I bet Kenny does too. Get out of my way, Gwen!"

The four male teenagers cringed as a kitchen drawer was slammed. "Why do they want to make us breakfast, again? We can just pick up some drive-thru." Kevin replied very logically to the other three teenagers in the living room.

"It's called 'nesting'. It's sorta a maternal instinct brought on by having us here." Devlin supplied, staring back at the kitchen with a worried look coloring his features. Then, he turned anxious eyes to the group assembled in the living room. "Mom learned how to cook in college, so I'm pretty sure we're all about to be poisoned!"

Ben smiled at his nephew's distraught remark and countered confidently, "Julie can cook."

Devlin turned his somber green eyes on his uncle. "Not if she's in a sleeper hold."

Ben raised a curious inquisitive eyebrow, then laughed at the absurdity of the image that statement had evoked. "Devlin, Gwen's not putting Julie in a sleeper hold to keep her from making French toast."

The youngest raven-haired teen wasn't convinced. "Have you_ seen _her get really pissed? She's put _me_ in a sleeper hold!"

Ben was intrigued now. This boy was built like a tank! What exactly had he done to get his mother that upset? Never mind even that- How did Gwen…? "You've got about a foot and a hundred pounds on my cousin, Dude. How did she get you in a sleeper hold?"

Devlin regarded his uncle like he was ignorant (well, the question was ignorant). "I don't know what level she's at in this time, but _my_ Gwen is a master in seven different forms of martial arts. Not to mention, she has twenty-two years of training on me. If she has the inclination, she can pretty much wipe the floor with me at hand-to-hand combat." He wasn't even ashamed to admit his inferior skill when compared to a fighter of his mother's caliber, regardless of gender.

Kenny joined in now. "But, you could beat her if you used your powers, right Dev? I mean, you trained with Verdona. That's gotta give you an edge against her." Kenny secretly hero-worshipped his older cousin.

Kevin's interest was piqued and he turned to his son. "You've trained with Verdona? She let you come back?" The dark-haired teen was wary of his girlfriend's grandmother. She seemed so unstable.

"I only went to Anodine for six months when I was little and we focused mainly on building barriers to shield my mind from infiltrations, telepathy and mental manipulation… that kind of thing. I did learn how to project manna fields much faster than most Anodytes, though. I can do it only using my thoughts if I have to. I can also shift between my human and Anodyte form with a lot more control than Mom could at my age, but the focus was on protecting me from being controlled against my will." Devlin's voice got quieter as he looked at his father to finish, "That kind of thing has happened to me before. The trash of the Universe wants to get their hands on me and turn me into a weapon because of what I can do."

Kevin immediately felt unsettled at this knowledge. They were after his son! At least, he could take solace in the knowledge that they were indeed taking every precaution to safeguard the boy. Not to mention, he was a teenager already. The older he got…the harder the target. Yes. His son would be fine.

The four male teenagers suddenly realized they no longer heard arguing coming from the kitchen. '_Oh, God! They've killed each other!_' was the shared conclusion conveyed form one teen to the other, as they exchanged looks and charged for the kitchen in unison.

They found the room unoccupied.

"What are all of you doing in here? Breakfast's on the table in the dining room?" Came the confounded voice of Julie from behind them.

All four teen's recoiled and turned to face her, while two distinctly girlish squeals resounded in the empty kitchen simultaneously. Ben and Kenny turned to each other with surprised embarrassment written all over their faces. Kevin and Devlin's mocking laughter was instantaneous. "God! He got it from Uncle Ben! I didn't think any other human being with male genitalia could emit that sound!" Devlin was gasping and clutching his sides as his cousin and uncle shot daggers at him with their matching green eyes.

Kevin wiped an unbidden tear as he tried to stifle the laughter. "That sound _shouldn't _come out of any human being with male genitalia!"

Both Tennysons forcefully and violently shoved their insulting Levin 'friends' out of the way as they made their way to the dining room, fuming.

Gwen looked up from setting the table as her cousin and his son slumped down angrily at the dinner table next to each other. Julie soon followed, looking unsure as to which one of her boys she was supposed to sit next to and console.

"What happened?"

Julie locked disappointed eyes with the red-head and pointed at the now entering Levin teenagers, who were still snickering. "_Your_ boyfriend and son are bullying _mine_!"

Gwen thought about this response a moment and realized that only in her particular group of friends, did that statement make absolutely any sense. Weird really did follow them around. She cast a chastising glance at her boys as they sat next to each other at the table. "Whatever you two did to Ben and Kenny… apologize right now!"

Her tone was menacing and dangerous, so both teenagers immediately turned to face their best friends, who were staring back at them smugly, expectantly. As soon as the Levins made eye contact with the Tennysons, though, they both busted into renewed fits of laughter.

Ben and Kenny instantly sent recriminating looks at Gwen, who was rubbing the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger. "Guys…!" She tried again in a tired tone.

"Okay… Okay! I'm sorry for making fun of your masculinity, Uncle Ben." Devlin subdued his laughter just enough to get it out, but didn't look at either brunettes' faces, "Kenny."

Kevin was still laughing, so Gwen jabbed him hard on the shoulder. It hurt! "Ouch! Okay! Ditto for me, too. Jeesh, Gwen. No need to get violent!"

Julie and Gwen exchanged satisfied smiles and the alpha females each took their rightful seats at the opposite ends of the dining table.

**A/N: This story is coming to and end. I really need to warn my readers the final fight scene is very disturbing and it will begin with the next chapter. **

**Please review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Yeah, I apologize in advance to all my fellow Gwevin lovers for this.**

**Disclaimer: Man of Action owns Ben 10 and all the characters in this story. Lord knows, they'd never do this with them.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>The car ride out to meet Kevin 11,000 was eerily silent.<p>

None of the occupants of either vehicle could say they weren't terrified without effectively lying through their teeth.

The directions Paradox had given them weren't exact, (probably because the time-stream was so damaged that he couldn't) so they took the road that led southeast out of Bellwood. Once the road diverged in an exclusively easterly direction, they had gone off-road into the desert. Now, they were literally in the middle of nowhere and the clock on their dashes read 4:00 pm. Seven minutes to arrival.

As soon as the GPS in Kevin's car indicated they had traveled the correct distance, he stopped. This signaled Ben, who was following in the Mark10 to stop as well.

All six teenagers emerged from the two vehicles and regarded one another, apprehensive determination mirrored on all their demeanors. They all began surveying the area in search for the 'evil' Kevin.

Ben intelligently realized it was probably better to search from the air. Accordingly, both he and Kenny transformed into Jetray and took for the sky, reconnoitering the area. It didn't take long for Ben to spot a flash of light about one-hundred and fifty meters ahead of the group assembled on the ground; a muscular, tall, dark-haired man appearing in its wake.

Ben instantly knew who it was and his first instinct was to attack, but that wasn't the plan. They had to work as a team to bring him down. So, he whistled to Kenny who was looking a few dozen yards away. Upon gaining his son's attention, Ben pointed at Kevin 11,000 on the ground and gestured for Kenny to follow him. They made their way back to the other teenagers.

* * *

><p>Kevin 11,000's countenance morphed to one of curiosity as he followed the direction the dual aerophibians had taken. There weren't supposed be two of <em>those<em> in this time and they certainly weren't supposed to be searching for him. Oh well, he supposed it didn't really matter. He'd absorbed three of those _things _years ago. That transformation at least, posed little threat.

His obsidian eyes watched where the flying reptiles landed and he noted there were six people altogether gathered in front of two vehicles, apparently awaiting his arrival. A welcoming committee.

Curiouser and curiouser.

He could, of course, use his hyper-speed to be there in the blink of an eye, but he decided the walk would allow him the opportunity to better asses where exactly that insipid machine had sent him and the abilities of these obvious interlopers.

* * *

><p>Upon landing with the group, Ben immediately regarded his girlfriend. "He's here, Julie! Suit up!"<p>

Julie's heart leapt to her throat, but she quickly obeyed her boyfriend by relaying the command to Ship. "Come on, boy! Armor up!"

The mechamorph responded with an excited electronic "ship!" sound and promptly enveloped its master's entire body, morphing itself into a battle exo-suit complete with a full arsenal of weaponry. Julie shot the oldest brunette teen a thumbs-up and a smile. "I'm ready to go, Ben. Where is he?"

Ben turned in the direction of a dark approaching figure. All the other teens' eyes followed his.

As he got closer though, Gwen couldn't help but think he didn't _look_ particularly dangerous. She'd definitely seen worse. She'd go as far as to say he was downright handsome. After all, he looked like Kevin (well he _was_ Kevin) only older and more distinguished. His gait was so deliberate. He looked almost… regal.

Looks could be so unforgivingly deceiving!

"Why's he taking so long to get here? Any one of us can move faster that that!" Devlin really wanted to get this over with.

"He's studying us. Wants to know what he's up against."

The younger dark-haired teen knew better than to question the accuracy of that assessment. Sans the psychosis, his father and this thing were essentially the same person.

* * *

><p>Once he was close enough to properly address what he now saw was a group of teenagers without the need to vociferate; Kevin 11,000 stopped, smirked, crossed his chiseled arms and regarded Ben. He shook his head in recrimination. "Someone is cheating the laws of Space and Time, Benji. You shouldn't have known I was coming."<p>

As he surveyed the others in the group slowly, scrutinizing them one by one, Ben responded. "If anyone broke any laws, it was you by coming to our time and our Universe."

Kevin 11,000's smirk widened at the useful information the idiot had just unwittingly divulged. So, he _had_ traveled back in time, but not as far as he had intended and somehow he'd crossed over into an alternate dimension. Stupid machine!

After quickly skimming a rather tantalizing-looking teenage version of Gwendolyn Tennyson, his eyes settled on a teenage version of himself, who was shooting daggers at him with matching obsidian eyes (obviously a friend of Benji's in this Universe).

Oh! This was going to be fun! He'd only fought himself in paranoid delusions before.

Then his eyes moved on to another brunette teenager who greatly resembled Benjamin. Odd. Beside him was a dark-haired teen that also uncannily resembled him as a teenager and was pointedly avoiding his eyes.

Devlin couldn't bring himself to look at this _thing_. He knew it looked just like his father: _his_ dad, the one who was waiting for him at home. This monster was somehow soiling his father's image and it revolted him.

Kevin 11,000 suddenly broke out into maniacal laughter at the realization of who the last two teenagers were. "Okay Benji, I may have broken some rules by coming here, but they," he pointed at Kenny and Devlin ", definitely broke some by following me to warn you about it."

He walked leisurely up to Devlin, who still stared adamantly at the ground. Kevin 11,000 regarded his son with obvious disgust as the rest of the teens tensed and braced themselves to protect the dark-haired teenager if he was attacked. "Devlin, what did Tennyson do, huh? Order his faithful little adopted stray to accompany his brat in a ridiculous mission to follow me back in time and attempt to protect him? Did he really think a pathetically weak traitor like _you_ could possibly handle the likes of me in _any_ timeline?"

At his infuriating, abusive, condescending tone of voice and belittling statement, Devlin was no longer able to reign in his temper and his eyes shot up to lock with those of Kevin 11,000 in a dangerously venomous sneer. His voice was a righteously indignant growl as he spoke.

"I'M _NOT_ YOUR SON, MONSTER!"

Kevin 11,000's eyes went wide for a moment as the boy glared at him but the shocked expression lasted only a split second before his face once again became unreadable. He stepped back a couple of steps and regressed in Ben's direction, never breaking eye contact with Devlin.

He stopped moving directly facing Kevin, who was still glaring openly at him despite the fact that his opponent was only regarding the younger dark-haired teen. "No. I suppose in this Universe you aren't my son." Kevin 11,000 nodded at the teenage version of himself directly in front of him. "You're his, aren't you?" Devlin gave no indication of an answer.

Kevin 11,000 now stopped addressing Devlin, but oddly enough, instead of directing himself to Kevin who was directly in front of him; actually directed his attention to Gwen, who was right next to the oldest raven-haired teen. "Has anyone ever told you Gwendolyn," as he spoke, his intonation was conversational and his demeanor was completely devoid of emotion, "that you have the most interesting shade…"

"Of green eyes?"

Kevin's mind registered the hidden threat a second too late for his body to react.

In a motion far too quick for almost every species, including humans, to register, Kevin 11,000 had pulled Gwen forcibly to him and moved out of the group's line of vision. Gwen hadn't even had the reaction time to scream. She was gone.

* * *

><p>The five frantic remaining teenagers tried to wrap their heads around the speed with which Kevin 11,000 had been able to usurp Gwen.<p>

Devlin's instantaneous if ill-conceived reaction was to call after his teenage mother in the hopes she could reciprocate a response. His thought process paralyzed with far too much abhorrence and befuddlement to function properly. As was to be expected though, his calls were answered only by howling wind and echoes. He turned frenetic emerald eyes to his teenage father and found the exact expression mimicked in his obsidian eyes. "Why would he take Mom?"

The younger raven-haired teenager's voice came out as almost a wail. He couldn't help it. He was prepared for a fight. He was prepared to hurt. He was willing to bleed. He was willing to die. But, God! Not his mother!

Kevin tried to slow his mind as all the twisted possibilities flooded in at his son's question. Forcing back his own hysteria, he tried to focus on the most logical. "He wants information. He's disoriented by the fact that we knew he was coming and…" Kevin found he was unable to voice the most logical reason an 'evil' version of himself would have to take Gwen. "God! We have to find her! Now!"

Ben had never witnessed his best friend this terrified. Honestly, it was scaring the living daylights out of him, as well. Add to that, the uncertainty of what that psycho might do to his cousin… "He's like Ben 10,000! He didn't transform to use his powers! He moves like XLR8 or Fasttrack! He could be miles away!"

Amazingly, it was Kenny amongst the rattled group of teenagers, who could think the most cogently at the moment. "Devlin, can't you track her manna signature or something, Dude?"

Devlin was awash with relief as he rushed to his cousin and crushed him in a bear hug, out of which the younger brunette couldn't even breathe. This kid was definitely not living up to his potential. He promptly scanned the surrounding area and locked onto his mother's signature while releasing his younger cousin so the boy wouldn't suffocate. "She's that way," the dark-haired teen gestured in a southwesterly direction.

Something irked him, though. Not only was his teenage mother's manna signature not moving, it was fluctuating erratically and fading drastically. He knew what that meant. He kept the dread-infused chill that ran up his spine from exhibiting itself outwardly as he turned to his uncle to finish his statement out of fear for his father's reaction. "They aren't far, just a few miles." He whispered the next few words, a pained expression in his emerald eyes. "She's in pain and growing weaker."

Kevin heard every word. The rage that was literally boiling his blood and blindly consuming him caused an almost animalistic, pained roar to rip from his throat. What was that monster doing to her? He couldn't remember ever feeling so helpless! It would have been great to hit something,_ anything_, at that moment.

The other four teenagers flinched and stared worriedly at him, but he morosely turned away from them, avoiding their eyes.

Ben turned his concerned emerald gaze form his best friend to his nephew, a look of resolute determination taking over his demeanor in a flash. "How fast are they going, Devlin? Can we keep up in the cars at turbo speed or should you and Kevin drive while the rest of us fly there?" Ben was already gesturing for Julie, who was no longer 'wearing' Ship to get in the Mark10.

"They're not moving. They just stopped there." Came the hushed, disturbed response. Nothing about this felt right to Devlin.

Ben now stared at his nephew confused. "If he can travel that far, that fast… Why would he stop and let us catch up?"

Kevin now turned back to the group with a disgusted, furious grimace twisting his features as he supplied the answer, "Because she's bait to him… nothing more." He nodded to his son. "Devlin, you drive. You know where we're going. Get us there, _now_!"

That having been said, they got in the cars and were off.

* * *

><p>Gwen's mind hadn't had time to register the moment Kevin 11,000 had taken her. She had only been vaguely aware that something was very wrong for about twenty seconds. She tried to scream, tried to struggle. She found she could do neither, however.<p>

The sheer gravitational force of the speed the man holding her moved at created a vacuum, which suctioned all the air out of her lungs, keeping her body painfully, uncomfortably flush with his.

The moment he stopped, Kevin 11,000 released her and disoriented from the lack of oxygen, she fell to her knees, bracing her hands on her thighs for support and gulping a lungful of air.

He squatted down in front of her, very close, invading her space. "I don't blame him for wanting you Gwendolyn." His voice was almost tender as he reached out to tuck a stray strand of blazing crimson hair behind her ear.

She quickly raised a hand to block him, years of martial arts training making her reflexes far keener than her appearances led on. Her other hand shot forward directed at his chest, ablaze with a powerful burst of manna. She was going to fry him for touching her. Or, so she thought.

Faster than her eyes could follow, he grabbed first the blocking hand, twisting it painfully behind her and then the hand that was glowing with manna. He looked at it with curiosity fleetingly before wrenching suddenly, causing a violently painful spasm to travel down the entire length of her arm, breaking her concentration and thus her hold on the life energy as well.

He twisted this hand behind her to join the first and came down on his knees, holding both her delicate wrists tight in place behind her with his much larger hand. He squeezed painfully until a groan escaped unbidden through her gritted teeth. She would _not_ show him weakness.

The position of his hand on her wrists forced her to stand fully on her knees and flushed her completely against him (either that or both her wrists would snap). She still only met him face to neck. He used his free hand to force her chin up to look at him. "Tsk-tsk, Gwendolyn. We'll have none of that." He chastised her as if she was three. She, in turn, sneered at him ruefully. "As I was saying, I don't blame this Universe's version of Kevin Levin for desiring you. I myself have had amazing fantasies about you over the years. You have no idea the undeniably desirable woman you are going to grow to become."

As soon as those words left his lips, she felt excruciating, mind-numbing pain shoot up her wrists from where he held them. She had to bite her bottom lip to keep from crying out. Her tormentor saw this and an excited glint crossed his eyes as they changed from onyx to a dilated gold. "But if I would have realized you were an Anodyte… I would have found a way to ravage you in my Universe years ago."

At this point, he kissed her forcefully invading her mouth with his tongue. He released his grip on her wrists (she no longer had the energy to struggle) and bruisingly groped her buttocks while digging his other hand into her back. He lifted her slowly against him to get more friction and a better angle on her mouth, which he was now using to drain her agonizingly slowly of her life essence.

All Gwen registered was the pain. The moment his mouth came down on hers, she should have been outraged and revolted, but all her mind could filter was the insurmountable pain he was inflicting upon her. He was boiling her from the inside out. It was an absolute invasion. He was draining her of every iota of manna she possessed in the most degrading manner she could have ever imagined! She couldn't struggle. She couldn't fight. She couldn't stop the pained tears that were now flowing freely down her pale cheeks. He was killing her!

Then, Kevin 11,000 stopped adsorbing her energy and she stopped feeling the excruciating pain. Unfortunately, now she felt everything else he was doing to her and her tears intensified. She was repulsed by the way; he was kissing her… the way he was running his hands all over her. Her arms were limp. Nothing would respond. This was a nightmare!

Kevin 11,000 finally pulled away and regarded her with lust-filled eyes. "To think, you would give yourself willingly to _him_. I must admit, Gwendolyn, I'm jealous." He stroked a thumb across her bottom lip, then bit down on it hard enough to break the skin. Gwen whimpered in pain and shut her eyes tight in an effort to block it out. There was so much pain! Kevin 11,000 lapped at her torn swollen lip as he continued to look into her delicate tear-stained face but not her eyes, he noted. She was refusing to meet his gaze even after all this. He loved her defiance!

"I'm not going to kill you," he told her matter-of-factually, conversationally. "They're going to come for you and I'm going to kill _them_, but I'll come back for you over and over and over…" He crushed his mouth savagely to hers again; excited at the prospect of the things he had planned for her. Gwen shuddered in horror and more tears fell. Nothing this monster had done to her demonstrated he wasn't absolutely capable of making good on his obscene promise.

"And our little Devlin with the beautiful green eyes...?" At the mention of her son, Gwen's eyes finally locked pleadingly with his. "I have a feeling he inherited more than just your eyes, didn't he Gwendolyn?" The sudden horrified widening of those emerald gems was response enough for him and he chortled darkly. "Well in that case. Since, I can't have you; seeing as your services are needed elsewhere…" he violently groped her buttocks again, aggravating the bruise he'd placed there moments earlier and causing her to wince and jolt in agony, "and Anodytes happen to be a predilection of mine… I'm going to absorb every last speck of manna within his treacherous, despicable, miserable excuse for a body and then I'm going to rip out his still-beating heart." More anguished tears fell unbidden from her now-hollowed emerald eyes and down her pallid cheeks.

With those final words, Kevin 11,000 went in for one last torturous kiss. After all, he needed to make sure the traitorous little bastard got a good show. He could already hear the cars approaching.

**A/N: Okay… As I said before, flaming is encouraged, but remember to use punctuation marks in place of actual expletives.**

**Please Review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: Man of Action owns Ben 10 and all the characters in this story.**

**Enjoy!**

If there was one thing, years of martial arts training had taught Devlin… it was discipline.

This turned out to be an extremely advantageous attribute as the two vehicles first approached his mother's manna signature. It's value only increased exponentially as they drew ever closer and it became painfully conspicuous what the dark figure holding the much smaller limp one in his hands was doing to her.

He shut his eyes tight as the furious tears threatened to break through. He fought the blinding rage that was overtaking him. He'd practiced for years how to fight it. _She'd _taught him for years how to control it. Rage was your enemy in a fight. It clouded your judgment, caused you to make stupid mistakes.

He tightened his grip on the steering wheel until his knuckles were white (thank God for whatever alien material it was made of because he would have ripped it out already in his attempt to control his anger). Then, steeling his resolve, he ignited the turbo boosters in the car and set the auto pilot control before looking at his teenage father beside him. His face was a mask of determination.

* * *

><p>Kevin had never actually wanted to kill someone as bad as he wanted to kill the thing that was holding his beautiful girlfriend about a mile ahead of them. He had wanted Ragnarok dead for killing his father, but that desire paled in comparison to what he felt right now. He wanted to tear that thing limb from limb with his bear hands. He ventured a look down at his painfully clenched fists and realized he was shaking with the unfathomable rage he felt. He had to get out of this car, NOW!<p>

Then, he saw a motion out of the corner of his eye and turned to see his teenage son was firing the boosters and setting the autopilot. His rational mind instantly clicked in. He was a trained Plumber and an expert at hand-to hand combat. He knew better than to let anger blind him. He looked up to see Devlin was already regarding him, a deep understanding and conviction raged behind his emerald eyes. The unspoken plan was set in motion.

* * *

><p>His Plumbers badge started beeping, but he pointedly ignored it as he touched the outer body of his car through his open passenger window and the material coated his entire body. He turned to regard his son who had done the same. They were almost there. "How long will it take you to put up a shield around both of you?"<p>

Devlin answered automatically. "Fastest I've done it is .06 seconds. Doesn't leave much margin for error." At his father's concerned frown, he added with a forced, reassuring smile, "We both got a lot riding on this, Dad. However, if I don't time it perfectly- I don't get to exist. So, I'm pretty motivated to get it right."

Kevin put a hand on his shoulder and sent him a look that was proud, encouraging and pleading all at once. His voice carried the emotion they both felt. "She's my Universe, Devlin."

The younger teenager smiled back. "She's _our_ Universe, Dad… Ready?"

They shared a quick nod and simultaneously opened their doors, jumping out in unison as Kevin's car made impact with Kevin 11,000.

* * *

><p>-The Mark 10 Moments Earlier-<p>

"Oh, God!" Julie grasped Ben's shoulder from the back seat as the horror of what had happened to her abducted friend became evident the closer they came to where Devlin was leading them. Was Gwen even still alive? She wasn't moving at all while that monster virtually fondled her! She felt the muscles in her boyfriend's arm tense and she could imagine his anguish at seen_ this_. She had always been more of a sister to him than his cousin.

Ben was glad for the contact of Julie's hand against his shoulder. It almost felt as if it was grounding him in the maddening wave of indignation he felt at seeing his cousin in that thing's clutches. He was so distracted by that anger, he didn't realize his son was speaking to him until well into the boy's statement.

Kenny was horrified. Not only for his obviously suffering aunt, but also for what he feared his cousin would do in retribution at seen _this_. His emerald eyes immediately shot to look at the vehicle that until a second ago was cruising beside them and was now zooming well past theirs. He panicked. He knew Devlin could become unstable if pushed far enough. "Dad! I don't think Dev and Uncle Kevin should be going that fast when we're this close!"

Ben instantly picked up Gwen's displaced Plumbers badge and attempted to contact Kevin. There was no answer. He swung the badge into the dash frustrated. "What are they doing? Are they insane?"

Kenny continued to watch perplexed as his uncle's car headed in what was inexorably a collision course with where Kevin 11,000 held his aunt at an unbelievable speed. Then it hit him. He turned frantically to his father. "Speed up and get there as fast as you can, Dad! We'll need all the back-up we can get as fast as we can get it." He quickly turned to his confused teenage mother and placed a quick kiss on her cheek. "Please, be safe, Mom. Fight from as far as you can. You saw how fast he can move."

With those final words, Kenny dialed the Omnitirix on his wrist to what he needed and slammed down on it. In a flash of green light, Big Chill took his place and immediately went intangible, phasing through the vehicle and darting towards Kevin 11,000.

Ben only had a moment to ponder what his son meant as he saw Kevin's car intercept the spot the 'evil' Kevin was holding Gwen, both his best friend and his nephew jumping out of the vehicle in perfect synchronization with what was supposed to be a fatal crash.

* * *

><p>Just as Devlin had planned, the coward didn't take the hit. He was certain the monster could have survived the impact, but someone so unscrupulous was much more likely to simply move out of the way, leaving his victim to take the blow. That's exactly what he did.<p>

A fraction of a second before the car could touch Kevin 11,000; he relinquished his hold on Gwen who, as her son jumped out of the speeding car, instantly found herself enveloped in a manna field and levitated to a safe distance.

The green-eyed teenager never touched the ground as another field materialized underneath his feet and the vehicle rushed by him and his teenage mother. He quickly summoned his mother to him so he could better examine the extent of her injuries. He settled them both on the ground and erected a manna dome to shield them from his father's part of this plan.

* * *

><p>Kevin's part of the plan was simple: the instant Kevin 11,000 moved out of the way, he had to ram the masochistic bastard down using the momentum from jumping out of the car.<p>

The older dark-haired teenager knew he was nowhere near as fast as the freak, but he'd jumped out of moving cars before and the monster only had a split second on him to react before the impact. Timed correctly, he should be propelled forward fast enough to catch him and wrestle him down.

He was.

When the dust of the self-driven vehicle settled, Kevin was wrestling his psychotic alter ego on the ground, exchanging furious blows. Considering the fact that one of his hands was a razor sharp, double edge blade, the other was a bludgeon and he was landing as many blows as the murderer; Kevin, seriously had no idea what this guy's skin was made of.

Kevin 11,000 was finally able to get the leverage necessary to land a proper kick to his younger versions diaphragm, which sent Kevin hurling backward several feet. He got up and cracked his neck as he regarded his teenage alter ego with derision. This was not as much fun as he thought it would be.

This version of him had found a completely different way of using their shared ability. He absorbed matter. The green-eyed hybrid child did as well, he noted. Every hit his counterpart imparted felt like hitting a wall and he had managed to cut him (a feat no being had managed in longer than he could remember).

Yes. His abilities helped him heal as fast as the cuts were inflicted, but his skin was supposed to be nearly impervious to most bladed weaponry. This development was inconveniencing. He decided to use a different tactic against him.

* * *

><p>Devlin assessed the damage to his mother's body in horror. They had lost sight of her for five minutes. Five freaking, minutes! How could anyone inflict this much damage in so little time? The monster had obviously drained her. That was obvious from the fact that she was barely conscious and too weak to even, speak.<p>

Her lower lip was swollen and bleeding. Her wrists had black bruises that looked mixed with first-degree burns. Her clothes, Devlin was grateful, hid any other damage.

Devlin looked to where his father was fighting the thing that did this. As long as it was distracted, he could bring down the shield and infuse his mother with enough manna to heal as much as possible; maybe get her ambulatory so that she may protect herself.

He quickly brought the field down while simultaneously trying to imbue as much of his own manna as he could into his teenage mother in the small window of time he knew he'd be afforded.

The change was subitaneous as Gwen started to pink up. Her son's essence replenished her energy and she attempted to sit up under her own power. However, the pain that shot down her severely bruised gluteus muscles at the effort proved so intense, she ended up reclining on her side instead.

Devlin attempted to comfort her by softly stroking her back, when she winced and reflexively recoiled away from her son's touch. He noticed her pained reaction to the simple grazing of his hand and scrutinized her with an anguished distress marking his features. "God, Mom! What did he do to you?"

Gwen didn't meet her son's eyes. Her cogent reasoning told her she had absolutely no reason to feel ashamed. She'd tried to fight him. God knows, she'd tried. She'd wanted to rip him off of her with all that was in her, but she wasn't strong enough. So, unbeckoned, the abasement came.

She was determined not to let this be a distraction to her son, however. Even if she wasn't strong enough to prevent this, she wasn't going to allow it to be a hindrance to the others' efforts in stopping this thing. She could be strong for her son's sake. "I'm fine Devlin," neither believed it, "you need to go help your dad and the others."

Devlin hesitated. He knew a war zone was imminent behind him, but he just couldn't bring himself to leave her.

At her son's lack of obedience to her beseeching, Gwen shoved him away as hard as her diminished strength would allow her. Angry, humiliated tears began to stream down her face. "For God's sake, Devlin! Go! They need you! I don't want to be the reason everyone I love dies today." Her eyes now met his with a burning determination etched in their green depths. "I don't want him to ever do this to anyone again."

At his mother's unspoken request for retribution, Devlin rose and moved away from her to face Kevin 11,000.

* * *

><p>Kenny touched down next to his uncle as soon as the teen made impact with the ground after Kevin 11,000's kick to his abdomen. He immediately helped the dark haired teen back up on his feet.<p>

Kevin briefly turned to the necrofrigian questioningly, his eyes watching his opponent's next move peripherally. "Tennyson?"

Kenny actually thought about this a split second. Both he and his father _were_ technically Tennysons. He shook his head. "It's me, Uncle Kevin."

"Three against one hardly seems fair, now does it?"

Kenny and Kevin both turned to Kevin 11,000 when he spoke, but he was no longer regarding them. He was looking amusedly at Devlin, who was approaching cautiously, manna radiating from both his clenched fists. "There are a lot more than one of you, Monster." The younger raven-haired teenager's baritone held an edge of danger to it as he replied phlegmatically.

Devlin had no intention of waiting on this thing's next move. As soon as he was close enough, he was going to strike.

Kevin 11,000, however, looked uninterested as he continued. "Touché. Although, how _you _would know that is beyond me." He now regarded Kevin. "You should be more sympathetic. Of course, I would desire her. We _are_ the same being. We have the same tastes. It's just a pity you don't absorb energy in this Universe. She is unlike anything else you can experience. If you would have ever tasted her…"

Kevin's obsidian gaze instantly found the ground as the guilt that accompanied the memory of what he had once done invaded him. He knew exactly what Gwen's life energy felt like. He despised himself for possessing that knowledge.

Kevin 11,000's eyes shone with deranged mirth as he saw his alter ego's reaction and he chortled sadistically. "Oh she must_ really_ care about you to forgive something like _that_! It's an absolute violation!" His eyes then grew dark and lecherous as he added "Believe me… I know."

Kevin's rage renewed at the monster's words. This thing was actually _bragging_ about what he'd just done to Gwen! Before he could fully consider what he was doing, he charged at Kevin 11,000, both hands turning into blades.

* * *

><p>This is what he'd been waiting for, an ill-calculated move. Kevin 11,000 moved faster than any of them could register and the next thing any of them knew, Kevin was flat on his back on the ground and the monster had a hand on his chest, drawing his life energy.<p>

Both the other two teenagers now darted to separate them, when a flash of blue collided head-on with the monster and sent him flying a few dozen yards.

Fasttrack turned to his best friend who was lying, reverted to his human form, on the ground. "Are you alright, Kevin?"

The bearer of the Ultimatrix, who sported the form of a citrakayah was now joined by his son and nephew. Devlin immediately bent over his teenage father concerned.

Kevin had never experienced himself what the worst among his people could do to other beings. Having been protected by both his metal shielding and his rage, he hadn't felt the hit Kevin 11,000 had dealt him. All he'd felt was his life literally slipping away from him through his chest. He was overwhelmed with relief when the sensation stopped abruptly, but now he felt completely numb. It was almost as if being anesthetized. Was he even conscious? He must have been. He could hear his best friend and son speaking. They were talking about him.

"He only touched him for a few seconds. I've never known any Osmosian who can drain someone this fast. Then again, he's had tens of thousands of victims to perfect this on." Devlin regarded his uncle with worry etched on his features. "Uncle Ben, I can't heal this degree of damage. His body's going to need time to heal itself and recuperate. All I can do is get him awake and moving but he's out of the fight. We're down to four." Apprehension was evident in the younger raven-haired teen's voice.

However, Fasttrack was no longer looking at his nephew as Julie joined them, fully decked-out in her Ship exo-suit and urgently diverting his attention to other matters. "He's getting back up, Ben!"

"Do what you can for Kevin, Devlin. We'll have to finish this ourselves. Come on, Kenny."

"Julie, you're our back up. Take every clean shot you can get at him." Ben transformed into Humungousaur, then Ultimate Humungousaur and took off running to meet the 'evil' Kevin, his son and girlfriend following suit.

* * *

><p>Devlin turned to his teenage father and, eyes glowing magenta, infused his manna into him as he'd done before for his mother.<p>

As soon as Kevin opened his eyes, he saw the exigent look on his son's countenance. He needed to go. "Dad…"

The older raven-haired teenager stopped him immediately, getting up sluggishly. His body felt like it weighed a ton! "I heard everything, Kid. I'm out. I got it. You gotta go. I'll look after Gwen," Both their eyes traveled to the red-head that had managed to get to her feet and was reclining against the Mark 10, watching them with rapt concern in her emerald eyes. Devlin couldn't help but marvel at her resilience. He smiled at her.

Kevin tore his eyes away from her to regard his son again. His face contorted into a worried frown. "He's going to try everything to get his hands on you. Watch out for that."

Devlin, oddly, smiled sinisterly at his father as he responded cryptically, "Actually, Dad, I'm counting on that." He then just turned and ran off to where his uncle, aunt and cousin where fighting an amalgam of 11,000 different aliens.

Kevin watched him go with an intrigued, curious expression. The kid had something up his sleeves.

A hesitant, hopeful smile spread across his august features at the prospect. He sincerely hoped it worked.

* * *

><p>Kevin 11,000 was growing tired of playing with these children. As soon as he landed after being flung off forcibly from draining his teenage counter part, he started to transform. He could have finished them off one by one without the need to do this, but they were wasting his valuable time.<p>

As soon as he changed, however, he started taking on what felt like artillery and laser fire. He looked for the source and saw a small mechamorph (well, small compared to him- he _was_ as tall as a house now) running towards him. It was staying several feet behind the approaching Tennysons and shooting off an arsenal of different weaponry. It wasn't causing any major damage but it was certainly annoying. Once he saw there was a teenage girl enclosed within it, his next target was evident.

* * *

><p>Neither Ben nor Kenny were expecting for Kevin 11,000 to ignore their attack altogether and take to the air past them. Neither of them knew that thing could even fly, much less the speed at which he maneuvered once airborne. By the time that information and the direction he was heading became evident, the monster was already upon Julie.<p>

Julie's eyes went wide with terror as she saw him heading for her, but to her credit, continued firing. Every shot connected, but didn't seem to make a dent.

As soon as it landed, a hand that looked like it should have belonged to Ship's previous owner Baz-L extended out and grabbed her. It sent out an incredibly powerful electrical surge.

Ship sent out a pained shriek in what was its mechanical voice as it went dead and literally melted off of Julie's body. Leaving Julie unconscious and twitching softly on the ground from the electrical current's effect. The little mechamorph had weathered most of the brunt, but she had gotten electrocuted enough to feel the blood in her veins heat. She'd passed-out from the pain.

Before Kevin 11,000 could finish her off, however, two furious versions of Humungusaur slammed dead into him full force and all three ended up in a shallow indentation twenty-five yards away.

Neither Tennyson was thinking clearly as they rained volley after volley of bruising punishment to the monsters body, while simultaneously dodging projectiles of fire, ice, acid, crystals and everything else Kevin 11,000 had at his diverse disposal.

This masochist had singled out the weakest amongst them! He'd hurt Julie! He had to pay for what he'd done!

* * *

><p>Devlin ran up to his aunt as quickly as he could before joining the others. This thing was picking them off systematically- one by one! Disconcerted, he put a slightly quivering hand to her neck and was relieved beyond all things to find a steady rhythm there. She'd pull out of it soon. He glanced beside her and saw Ship laying life-less next to her.<p>

The little mechamorph worried him much less. He'd fixed him before. It was probably just an overload of his circuitry.

The dark haired teen's eyes now traveled to the battle waging a few yards beyond. This couldn't last much longer. Both his uncle and cousin had been in their transformations too long. They were moments from timing out. They'd be helpless.

He had to act fast.

As he approached the scene, he was unfortunately just in time to see Ben's Ultimatrix timing out. His ultimate transformations took too much juice in this time, apparently.

It couldn't have happened at a worse time, either. Kevin 11,000 had been delivering an especially vicious blow to Ultimate Humungousaur when it happened and the transformation only absorbed part of the impact. The other part sent his now human uncle flying back several feet… out cold.

It was now or never. This would time Kenny out even faster, but he needed to weaken the monster just a little further if this was going to work.

Using his cousin's continued assault on Kevin 11,000 as a distraction, he got close enough to vociferate his command to the Omnitrix. "Omnitrix! Command function override! Code: Levin-Tennyson One!"

The device on Kenny's chest immediately responded in its singular intonation. "Override accepted. Voice command activated."

Devlin dodged claws, flipped over pincers and almost did a full split to avoid (What was _that_, exactly?) in en effort to reach his cousin. He'd gotten the monster's attention now and things were only getting more difficult.

Once he stood side by side with his cousin, he erected a manna shield to protect them both from the onslaught Kevin 11,000 was volleying against them. He promptly turned to the brunette. "Once I change, get some distance between us as fast as you can, Kenny!" then he completed his command to the Omnitrix. "Omnitrix. Select Transformation. Command Code: 000Way Big0."

The device instantly responded. "Transformation confirmed. Proceed when ready."

Devlin placed a hand on the Plumber's insignia on his younger cousin's chest and absorbed the energy within. In a flash of green light, his body lost all recognizable traces of humanity, growing to the size and shape of a to'kustar.

The moment his transformation was complete, Devlin brought down a house-sized fist on the monster with astronomical force, creating a reverberation that probably registered as a small tremor back at Bellwood and created about a twelve-foot crater around his enemy.

Kenny stood at the edge, assessing the damage his older cousin had inflicted. That thing was flat on its back and seemed to be in pretty bad shape. One more shot like that ought to do it.

Devlin reared his massive fist back to deliver another blow when he heard it. That ominous beep the Omnitrix always emitted right before it timed out. Within a moment, there was a flash of green light and both he and his cousin reverted back to their human forms.

Unfortunately for Kenny, he was only standing a few dozen feet in front of Kevin 11,000 when it happened and at the perfect high vantage point for the murderer to notice the brunette was no longer a vaxasaurian.

Although, he was still too fazed to put as much force into the shot as he would have liked, Kevin 11,000 smirked evilly as he leveled an appendage at the brunette and shot a laser beam square at the teenager's chest. The blast actually made contact with Kenny's shoulder and propelled him backward a few feet.

The moment he saw his cousin go down, Devlin knew what he had to do. While Kevin 11,000 was still down, he jumped into the chasm. Racing towards the monster, he relinquished his hold on his human form, completely allowing his inner manna to manifest itself. All Anodytes were most powerful in their true form.

His entire body became completely devoid of human features and retained only a glowing amaranthine, muscular, male humanoid frame. He promptly levitated himself over his prone opponent and extended both arms forward. The gesture resulted in dozens of magenta manna tendrils to extend out form his body, each tendril latching onto a corresponding appendage on his foe's body and forcefully pinning him down.

Devlin quickly used the opportunity to rain manna-infused, scorching blow after blow to the creatures face and torso with his free fists. Until he felt the one tentacle he'd purposely 'overlooked' wrap along his leg and the corresponding, if pathetically week, energy loss from the contact.

* * *

><p>Kevin 11,000 smirked in triumph (at least, the fiery magma-like features that were supposed to be his face smirked). The moronic little traitor had finally made a mistake. He'd been so self-confident about his abilities, he'd missed a part of him and now he was going to suck him dry.<p>

What the boy did next, however, caught the villain completely off guard.

* * *

><p>Devlin remembered Paradox's advice to him about this thing perfectly. He was only half Osmosian, but half an Osmosian was still far superior to one-eleven-thousandth an Osmosian. The only thing the teenager needed was for the overly confident bastard to think he had the upper hand and let his guard down a second. Then, he had him where he wanted him.<p>

So, as soon as he saw that self-satisfied smirk spread across what was supposed to be the monster's face, he released his hold on his Anodyte form completely, reverting back to what seemed to be a human teenager, but was actually much more. He instantly grabbed what should have been the creature's neck and started to absorb _his_ life energy.

"Let's see how _you_ like it, Monster!"

There was definitely an undertone of dark, unbridled, satisfaction in that statement.

**Please Review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Okay, Everyone. This is the final chapter in this story. Next post will be the Epilogue. I want to thank everyone who has followed and reviewed the cousin's travels through this little adventure. It was fun! I have to give my very best appreciation to brandirandom21 who has, literally, forsaken her own educational responsibilities to read this at times and ParamoreXO who has given me support and invaluable input from day one. Sammyantha221, I didn't forget you, babe. Thank you for being my very first reviewer, ever. You girls inspired me and I know you inspire many others to do what makes all of us here, happy… write our little heads off! Thank you, so much! To my wonderful, patient husband whom this was dedicated to: Thank you, sweetheart! I love you!**

**Disclaimer: Man of Action owns Ben 10 and all the characters in this story. I am very grateful to them as well for letting me borrow them to entertain myself and the readers.**

**Enjoy!**

The astronomical raw power that surged and saturated Devlin's body through the contact with what should have been Kevin 11,000's neck was simply indescribable.

He'd never been completely physical with a woman. However, he was certain beyond all doubt- this far surpassed that, if in a very different sense. Every cell in his body was infused with the life energy of thousands of beings.

It was euphoric.

The agonized scream that was wrenched from somewhere within the creature's throat as the life was literally siphoned out of him; cleared Devlin's mind of the pleasurable feeling the manna surging through him was evoking enough for him to realize that this much energy was far beyond his ability to dominate.

He was loosing his own grip on his humanity to this energy. This monster didn't deserve that kind of a sacrifice. This thing deserved to die!

Ergo, he lifted his other hand skyward and released a continuous, powerful burst of manna; effectively making himself a conduit for draining the murderer of his essence and disbursing it harmlessly into the atmosphere.

Kevin had come around in the Mark 10 and picked up the now conscious Ben, Julie and Kenny. The five teens came out of the vehicle to witness Devlin's defeat of Kevin 11,000.

They all stood at the edge of the Way Big-created crater and watched. It only took a few moments for the monster's body to commence loosing its grotesque amalgamated limbs and appendages.

Soon it held the simple shape of a dark-haired man. A dark haired man that was writhing in agony as Devlin utterly choked the life out of him. Then, he just went limp.

Kenny's jade eyes shot wide at the realization that his cousin had absolutely no inclination to stop. Those same wide green eyes darted frantically to his watch. He gasped out in horror at seeing it was still recharging. Nevertheless, he made a decisively athletic, practiced leap into the chasm and dashed forward to prevent his older cousin from making the biggest mistake of his life.

Five feet from reaching the dark-haired teenager, the brunette was met with a manna shield. Devlin wasn't going to let him pass! Kenny banged on the shield, trying desperately to get through to his best friend. "Dev! Let it go, Man! He's down! He's not worth it! Come on, Dude! Don't do this!"

Devlin chose not to acknowledge his younger cousin. This monster had defiled his mother and God-knows-who else. He had hurt all of them. Every single person he cared about had almost died at the hands of this _thing_ today- only for its twisted pleasure. Had it not been for him disobeying his dad and cross-time traveling with Kenny, he would have succeeded in annihilating them all.

This last thought made something inside him click.

'_Dad._'

This thing, at some point in his lifetime, had been the same being as _his_ Kevin Ethan Levin. At some impasse, he'd made some very different choices that led to his becoming a psychotic, sadistic, sociopath- but he was, in the beginning, just like his dad.

What if murdering him turned him into that same kind of monster?

At this last thought, Devlin released his strangle hold on Kevin 11,000 and the man dropped in an unconscious heap to the ground.

The raven-haired teen's face twisted in revulsion as he took a few steps backwards, staring down at his hands horrified.

What had he been about to do?

As soon as the manna shield dropped, which coincided with Kevin 11,000 hitting the ground, Kenny made his way to his older cousin's side. The teenager was shuddering. He put a comforting hand on his shoulder and almost whispered, "Are you alright, Dev?"

Devlin turned haunted green eyes to his cousin and saw the genuine sympathy in those of the younger teen's. Unable to negotiate the attrition and overwhelming remorse that overcame him, looking in those caring eyes, he averted his to the ground; squeezing them shut so the angry, self-denigrating tears wouldn't come.

Kenny kept a reassuring hand on his shoulder as the other four teens slowly made their way down the steep wall of the crevice to join them. Once they were all gathered, the younger brunette saw they all shared the same look of concern for the raven-haired teenager, who was adamant about not meeting any of their gazes.

"Hello, young persons!"

All but Devlin turned to see Paradox waving ecstatically at them from a few feet away, that maniacally happy grin plastered of his face.

"Professor Paradox?" Ben didn't really know why he was surprised to see him. He always seemed to show up just after everything was over.

"Hello, Ben! So good to see you alive, considering I saw a very different outcome to this scenario." His expression suddenly turned forlorn. "I was so terribly saddened by your death," Then, as quickly as it came, the sad expression was gone again, replaced by his insane grin, "but that's all water under the bridge, now. You boys ready to go home?" He was directing himself at Kenny and Devlin.

Kenny ventured a look back at his older cousin and saw the teen remained facing away from everyone and everything going on around them. He turned back to answer Paradox. "I don't think we can go just yet."

Paradox sent a quick knowing glance at Devlin and smiled. "Alright then, how's another twenty-four hours sound? I will, however, be taking_ him_ back to where he belongs," Paradox gestured to the unconscious form of Kevin 11,000 on the ground, "I doubt he'll be too much trouble anymore."

With that, there was a flash of light and both Paradox and Kevin 11,000 were gone.

Gwen now came up to Devlin and placed a loving hand on his cheek. He still didn't meet her matching emerald gaze. Her voice was sympathetic and admiring as she softly spoke. "You didn't kill him."

It never ceased to amaze Devlin how his mother could always almost instinctively, know what he was feeling. "It wasn't for lack of trying!" His voice was almost a hoarse whisper. "Anyone else would have been dead long before I let go. The bastard's tough!" He finally turned his eyes to his teenage mother's.

Energy-induced dark circles rimmed those beautiful green windows to his soul that, at the moment, displayed an incredible amount of guilt and self-loathing. "I wanted to kill him." He admitted in a low, pained voice.

Gwen knew there was a world of difference between wanting someone dead and actually accomplishing the act itself; but she could plainly see that her future son was nowhere near in a state of mind to accept that, at the moment. Therefore, she just enveloped him in a hug, as tight as she could and let the boy find whatever comfort he could in her arms for now.

Devlin knew he loved this woman, but he had no idea how much until he felt the unbelievable relief radiate from her tiny body and flood into him through her simple gesture. He found himself hugging her back, keeping his arms as high as possible, remembering her injured lower back. However, he held onto to her fiercely as if letting go was tantamount to being lost to a dark void forever. It probably was.

They held each other a few more moments, as the other teens congregated there watched on in silence. Then, Devlin placed a soft, loving kiss against his teenage mother's temple, letting her go. "Thank you, Mom." She smiled radiantly back up at him.

Devlin now regarded his teenage father. "Dude, where's your car?"

Kevin scoffed. There was nothing more Levin than hiding uncomfortable emotions behind inappropriate humor. The kid worked on the car a few hours ago. He knew how the autopilot functioned. However, he'd saved their butts, so he'd play along. "It stopped ten miles after you set the autopilot, Genius. Now_ you _get to go fetch it."

Devlin set his face into a mock pout. He actually really wanted a chance to drive it again. "Why do I have to go? Uncle Ben has a car. He can drive us there and we can all drive it back."

This made absolutely no sense. Six people did _not_ fit in a five-seater. Everyone in the group caught on to the running gag and started smiling.

"I don't want to ride in Tennyson's scrap-heap and you have a hover thingy. So does the Runt," Kevin gestured to his nephew "So, you two can go get it and we'll wait here."

Leave it to his uncle to use a joke to take a stab at him. Kenny was no longer smiling. "Hey! For your information, Uncle Kevin, I'm average height for my age. He," he gestured to his cousin" and you, are freaks of nature. _Normal_ teenagers aren't that tall. Besides, Dad didn't get his growth spurt until he was almost out of his teens."

This tidbit was a shock to Ben. "Oh, man! Seriously! I'm this short for another three years? Oh, and by the way, Kevin. _You_ built that scrap-heap you're insulting."

The boys continued arguing for a few more minutes, until they heard an engine come to life and the screeching of tires as a car drove off. All four male teenagers looked around and realized their female counterparts and mothers were conspicuously absent.

"Did they just ditch us in the middle of the desert?" Ben actually sounded hurt.

"Um, I think Mom was pretty hurt and we're just eating crap out here. Can anybody blame them?" They all exchanged guilty looks. "Come on, Kenny. Lets go get Dad's car."

As the younger teens expanded their hover boards and darted off, they could hear their fathers' conversation in the background.

"Dude, we so have to stop off somewhere and get some yellow roses, or I'm never gonna hear the end of this."

* * *

><p>-Later That Night Kevin's Apartment-<p>

Devlin never thought a hot shower could possibly feel so good.

After retrieving his dad's 'ride' and making a quick stop at a florist shop, the four male teenagers had headed straight for Gwen's house.

The Mark10 had been parked in the driveway, so it was no surprise to find Julie there, as well.

The ginger was decidedly not well. After the adrenaline of the afternoon's events wore off, she was so sore, she had just taken a scalding shower to relieve as much tension as she could and Julie had applied soothing salve to the bruises on her back and lower region, as well as her wrists.

Julie was grateful none of the male teens was privy to the extent of the bruising present on her friend as she'd lain on her stomach in a drug-induced sleep. She'd covered the red-head up before her cousin or boyfriend could see them. Kevin and Ben had been downstairs talking to her parents, making up some excuse for her injuries.

Devlin and Kenny had to stay outside in the car to avoid being seen by the younger raven-haired teen's grandparents.

After their affairs there ended and his father had the chance to say good-bye to his heavily sedated mother, his aunt had the brilliant idea of stopping by a store and buying he and Kenny both a change of underwear. This mortified both teens and got a hearty laugh out of their fathers.

This was until the tiny Asian-American shot them both a death glare. "They both need a shower! They're filthy from fighting in the desert! We can wash their clothes, but you guys can't share underwear. That's gross!"

Turns out you can't argue with 'mom logic', so they got them the change in under clothes, their immature teenage father's snickering and cracking jokes the whole time.

Then, Kenny had gone with his parents to take his mom home and spend the night with his dad, while Devlin and his dad set off for Kevin's apartment.

Upon arriving, Devlin had called dibs on the shower and was now relaxing on the sofa bed; lying on his back with his hands behind his head, running through the events of the last day and a half. He was in his new boxers. His dad was washing his clothes. Who knew Kevin Levin knew how to use a washing machine?

Now that he was alone with his thoughts, the guilt of what he had almost done began to nag at him.

Was he really a killer? What made him any better than what he was going to murder? He had the same psychological profile. He knew his father had killed, albeit not when in his right mind when he was a kid, but his father was a Plumber.

Devlin wasn't ignorant of the reasons his father was used for special missions. Uncle Ben didn't do certain _things_ that had to be done. His dad accompanied him on missions to 'capture' especially dangerous criminal element the Galactic Court of Law had sentenced beyond the Null Void… usually, because not even the pocket dimension could contain them.

The teenager's musings where interrupted when his teenage father came out of the bathroom in only a towel. "Dude! You ever hear of _modesty_?"

Kevin smiled unabashedly at his teenaged son, heading to his room to get some clothes on. "My place, Kid. Besides, we're anatomically identical. This isn't new to you."

Devlin got up on his elbows and yelled into the bedroom after him. "Even so, it's common courtesy, Dad! I came out in underwear."

Kevin emerged in a pair of black loose pajama bottoms and sat on the sofa bed next to the teen. He looked him over with a pitying expression. "The towel covers the same thing, Devlin. You're too uptight. You get that from your mother. No wonder, you can't keep a girlfriend."

Devlin was affronted, but still managed an amused scoff. "For your information, Dad, I can't keep a girlfriend because my intellect makes any given girl interesting to me for about two weeks." He asserted, cockily.

Kevin considered this briefly. "You need a challenge. Someone that annoys you and drives you insane half the time, but fascinates you to the point that you stupidly keep coming back for more. That's what Gwen is to me." This was Kevin Levin's comically oversimplified advice to his son.

Devlin considered him emotionless a second, then burst out into bouts of laughter. "I have that, Dad. Her name's Gwenny Tennyson!"

The younger raven-haired teenager's laughter only intensified, when his father sent him an outraged, confused grimace. "Technically she's far enough removed that the concept of that isn't _illegal_," Kevin looked like he wanted to retch, as he attempted to reconcile what he thought his son was admitting to.

Devlin wiped the tears from his eyes, attempting to stifle the laughter. "I wouldn't touch that little girl with a ten-foot pole, Dad. She's my sister." At his father's impossibly further horrified and confused look, he started to sober and really considered what he had just said. He cringed. Did his father seriously think Uncle Ben and his mother were Gwenny's parents? Seriously! How twisted was this guys mind?

For the sicko's benefit, he elaborated. "You and Mom have been trying, nonstop, for a decade and a half to have more children. However, excepting the fact that you two are biologically human, your hybrid genetic codes aren't compatible. You're like a cat and a dog, so to speak. No one even knows how _I _happened, not that I'm complaining, mind you."

Kevin's expression saddened at that knowledge, for some reason. He also felt a definitive blow to his male ego. The younger teen picked up on the change immediately. He could tell where his father's thoughts were heading, so he spoke up encouragingly, smiling at his father. "You don't shoot blanks, Dad. Mom's being pregnant more than once." When his father perked up instantly, Devlin felt horrible about having to finish the statement and disappoint him." But her Anodyte physiology rejects the Osmosian genetic material her body seems to recognize as a parasite. She has never gotten past six weeks after me."

At the expected downturn in his father's mood, the younger teen's heart went out to him. He knew his parents wanted more children just as bad as he had once wanted siblings. He had to cheer him up. "If it's any consolation, Dad, my experiences with unlocked doors in our house are a sure sign that you have nowhere near given up hope of giving me a little brother or sister. Although, at this point, it could be considered more of an obsessive pass-time than a healthy endeavor."

Devlin couldn't help the revolted grimace that twisted his features at the image his own statement had brought forth from the depths of his memories, nor the accompanying shudder. Both seemed to magnify when Kevin's response to his condolence was an incredibly twisted, lecherous smirk.

'_Eew, Dad! Gross! Seriously!_' Devlin found himself rubbing the bridge of his nose for what felt like the millionth time that day in the hopes of burying everything that had just transpired in the last sixty seconds, deep within his subconscious. He was going to need so much therapy after this!

When he felt the memory sufficiently suppressed, he continued his redaction. "Anyway, when Gwenny was born and Kenny was too small to hold her in the hospital, they handed her to me. Uncle Ben told me that, as long as I didn't get a brother or a sister of my own, she was mine to share with Kenny. She's my little sister too, Dad. I can't see her as anything else." The dark-haired teen realized how much he missed that pain-in-the-butt, as he spoke about her.

"I'm sure there's another girl with a similar personality and the uncanny ability to annoy me somewhere in the Universe. I'm not just into human girls- as long as the anatomy is compatible. I just bore really quickly right now. I'm only sixteen." Devlin really hoped his statement was true. He knew his intelligence made it very unlikely he could find a compatible match, regardless of his physical appearance.

"Besides, Gwenny's totally into Eddie Morningstar. _That's_ a whole other situation Uncle Ben has to deal with." Devlin rolled his eyes and huffed out an annoyed breath at the memory of _that_.

Kevin was appalled now and wore it well. "Morningstar? As in _Michael_ Morningstar? Who's this kid's mother?" His shock was evident in the elevated pitch in his normally deep baritone.

Devlin shrugged uninterested. "She's one of Mom's friends. I don't know her real name. She calls herself Charmcaster."

Kevin started chuckling darkly at this. Tennyson definitely had his hands full if _that_ was what wanted to get with his little girl in the future. "Is it mutual or one-sided?" This was juicy!

Devlin grimaced at the recollected image of having once caught Eddie and his cousin kissing. His mother had come between them before he landed the kid in the hospital. "It's totally mutual and gross. She's fourteen! He's my age! Only thing that saves the kid is the fact that my mom and his are friends, 'cause none of us guys in the family like his dad!"

Kevin's voice now took on a more circumspect undertone. These were some muddy waters to tread and the older teen knew it. "Devlin, why don't we like Mike?"

The younger teen's response was immediate and resolute. "Because, he's a rich, pompous blowhard, Dad!" He said this as if it was supposed to be common knowledge. Although, his rational mind told him that, in this time, it had no reason to be.

Kevin let out a relieved breath. At least the kid didn't know the real history they shared with Michael. How he ended up having a kid with Charmcaster, though, _would_ be interesting knowledge...

Kevin regarded his son's expression and saw the genuine malice he seemed to harbor towards their boy. Regardless of who his father was, he didn't think it was such a great idea for his son to be automatically prejudiced against someone. He certainly knew what it was like; being judged before anyone bothered getting to know him. "Maybe, for your cousin's sake… you may wanna lay off Eddie, Devlin."

Devlin looked at his father like he'd asked him to make-out with Kenny. "Dad, until my baby cousin turns at least, fifteen; I find out he's touching her again and he's loosing something he'll miss!" There was more of an element of a promise than a threat to the raven-haired teenager's words and a dangerous glint in his emerald eyes.

'_Okay! Eddie better be really careful around Gwenny and this little psycho!_' Kevin decided to leave it at that. Levin jealousy was the only thing worse than Levin stubbornness.

* * *

><p>It was well past one o'clock in the morning and Devlin was finding sleep evaded him. He wasn't really used to the effects of time travel on his inner chronometer. Not to mention, he kept mulling over things and his disturbing thoughts would not allow him the peace of mind he needed to rest. He once again rolled over, pulling the blanket tighter around himself and almost bumped into the prone form of Professor Paradox in his bed.<p>

He was on his feet instantly, his heart jumping to his throat. He was infinitely glad; he hadn't inherited the Tennyson squealing thing from his mother. He'd definitely be practicing it, right about now! "What are you doing here in my bed… in the middle of the night? You gave us twenty-four hours, less than nine hour ago!" This came out in a scandalized, frazzled whisper as the teen struggled to control his tachycardia.

Paradox got off the sofa bed with a genuinely apologetic expression. He spoke as softly as he could muster. "I'm terribly sorry for the deception, young Devlin. But, you have a rather daunting task to accomplish and we both know it will be better realized while your subjects are dormant."

Devlin's face fell. Paradox was right, of course. Nevertheless, that didn't stop the disappointment from setting in. "I don't even get to say goodbye to any of them?" It wasn't a question, so much as a statement of acceptance of what had to be done.

Paradox regarded him with a soft smile. "Don't be silly, my boy! You're going home! You've accomplished something extraordinary here! You should be proud!"

Devlin's visage changed from sadness to penitent anger as he started dressing. "Proud of what, exactly? Almost murdering someone in cold blood or not being able to stop that same murderer from getting to my mother and-" He let out an aggravated growl and looked at Paradox square in the eyes. "You know, I get to relive that now. It's the only way I can erase it from her memories. She _deserves_ to have that wiped out. But, honestly, I don't even know what kind of memory I'm supposed to find to replace it with that would excuse that kind of damage to her body." The teenager's temper was escalating as he pulled his hoodie on and zipped it.

Paradox saw his change in mood and decided to provide, helpfully, "I believe they were fighting some Forever Knights a few days ago. They are preparing for a large upcoming battle against them. Both your parents get tossed around pretty brutally whenever they encounter them, as of late. Gwendolyn is often the least sheltered from these assaults. That may be of use to you."

Devlin thought about that. His parents _had_ mentioned something major happening with the Forever Knights around this time. He still wasn't thrilled about what he had to sift through with his mother, but at least that made his job easier. "Thank you, Professor."

Paradox smiled his insane smile in return. "Don't mention it, young Devlin and about the other matter… you made the choice not to end your opponent's life. It was your choice to make and you made it, because of whom you are. There is nothing wrong with that. Not to say, there would have been anything wrong if you would have chosen to end his life. He was a murderer and a fiend, after all. It would have simply set your life's path in a slightly different direction. Who you are, however, is very much who _you_ endeavor to be."

Devlin stared at him completely perplexed. "What are you talking about?" Although, for some reason, his words made him feel better.

Paradox shrugged, dismissively and pointed to Kevin's room. "Never you, mind. I believe you should commence with your father, as we are here. Then we will proceed to Miss Yamamoto and Gwendolyn's. We will leave Benjamin for last, so that we may rendezvous with young Kenneth and make our departure to your time from there.

Devlin nodded in agreement and stepped into his father's room.

* * *

><p>It took three hours, but all the teenagers were equipped with new memories for the past roughly thirty-four hours and Devlin stood over Kenny's sleeping form in his teenage uncle's house. He was exhausted. His father, aunt and uncle had been a breeze, but his mother had been a nightmare. He really wished he had killed Kevin 11,000, now.<p>

He gestured for Paradox to stand back as he approached Kenny and quickly clamped his hand over the brunette's mouth so he couldn't scream as he shook him awake. That did_ not_ stop his younger cousin from trying to screech _and_ bite him upon waking.

"Ouch! Kenny, I swear! Get out of that bed, right now! We gotta go back!" Devlin whispered harshly and shook his hand to stop the sting of his cousin's bite.

Kenny's mind was only half functioning when he was fully awake, so anyone can do the math on how well it functioned when he was half-asleep. All they got in response was a confused, yawned, "Huh?"

Devlin was too tired and aggravated for this. He picked up his cousin bridal style and plopped him on the floor next to the bed so that he could make it up to look as though no one had slept in it. He'd done the same at his dad's apartment.

Kenny rubbed the sleep from his eyes, still confused as to what exactly was going on. Then he looked up and saw Paradox smiling genially down at him. "Hello, young Kenneth," the jovial scientist whispered kindly.

It finally registered with the brunette what was happening. "We need to leave in the middle of the night so no one notices we were ever here, huh?"

Paradox's smile grew at the young Tennyson's perceptiveness. "Precisely."

Kenny got up and started fumbling around for his clothes. Once he was done dressing, he turned to see the room he'd been sleeping in was done up immaculately. He turned to his older cousin mockingly. "Seriously, Dude. You need to have that obsessive compulsive disorder thing looked into."

Devlin just scoffed in annoyance and turned to Paradox. "Okay, Professor. We can go now."

In a flash of light, all three were gone.

**A/N: Please Review!**


	13. Epilogue

**Disclaimer: Man of Action owns Ben 10 and all the characters in this story.**

In what was becoming a familiar flash of light, Paradox, Devlin and Kenny appeared in the Levin household.

Paradox immediately lifted his gold pocket-watch to check the accuracy of their arrival. Then, he regarded the two teens in his characteristic, jovial intonation. "Here we are. As a reward for your services, I have brought you back to your own time just before Kevin arrives. This should shorten your _situation_ here by a few hours. He will be here in exactly three minutes. It's been a pleasure working with you youths. I hope we can do this again sometime. Too-da-loo!"

Then, with a friendly wave, he was gone and the boys were standing alone.

In the middle of the Levin household's living room.

Devlin had noticed the moment they arrived- Kenny was setting off the bio-sensors. However, Paradox had spoken so quickly and made his leave so abruptly, he hadn't been able to get his complaint in edgewise. He was certain the scientist had done it on purpose… no one as brilliant as Paradox miscalculated something like _this_.

They were hosed.

Kenny, very observantly, stated the obvious. "Paradox set us up, Dude! Your dad's like, less than three minutes from burning us both!" The poor kid sounded terrified at the prospect.

Devlin was still so tired. He decided that he really hated time travel. As soon as he was done with what he knew, would surely be a brutal workout imparted by his mother, once she found out about this. He was going to sleep for the rest of the weekend. He regarded his cousin with an exhausted smile. "Man, you just faced a much worse version of my dad than what's about to walk through that door. Doesn't that lessen your fear of him even a little?"

Kenny thought about this a moment and responded with complete conviction. "Not in the slightest, Cuz. Your dad is scarier- by far!"

Devlin couldn't help but chuckle at the absurdity of that assertion, (although, he secretly agreed) as he threw an arm affectionately around his younger cousin and ruffled his chestnut brown hair. "I got ya, Kenny. Just follow my lead."

The older teen walked to the kitchen and slid into a stool. He placed both elbows on the counter, bringing both hands under his bangs to rub his tired eyes.

Kenny was just joining him at the neighboring stool when they both heard the front door slide open. The brunette tensed automatically, making to turn around. However, his older cousin's hushed command stopped him. "Don't speak and don't make eye contact!"

The younger teen laced his fingers and froze in place.

Kevin had been alerted by the bio-sensors that Kenny was out of his son's room about a block out from reaching the house. His automatic response was indignation. He couldn't believe the gall of this kid to disobey a direct order! Then, he assessed it better and realized the timing of the alert was odd. The boys knew, he was about to get home. Why would they risk getting caught now?

He had every intention of getting an answer to that inquiry as he walked in to his home and found his son and nephew sitting at the kitchen counter, both their backs turned to him. He made a conscious effort to keep his temper in check until he got the answers he wanted. "There better be an exceptionally good reason for you not to be in the bedroom, Kenneth Tennyson," Kevin's voice was calculated ice as he spoke, "And considering the fact that you're conscious and I don't see any blood gushing out of you, I doubt very much that is the case. You have ten second's to give me whatever pathetic excuse you have for being out here, Runt."

As Kevin spoke, he'd folded his arms over his chest, making his way over to stand directly behind his nephew. He could tell by the slump of the brunette's shoulders, the boy was likely terrified.

Devlin didn't stop putting pressure on his aching eyes, speaking up on behalf of his younger cousin. "Kenny wants to go home, Dad." The raven-haired teen couldn't help the weariness that seeped into his voice.

Kevin noticed the languor in his son's inflection. It sent a slight twinge of concern through him. But, facts were facts. His best friend's son had disobeyed him. He wasn't going to let the kid off. "No. He agreed to stay for three days of his own free will, yesterday. He can't punk-out after a little over twenty-four hours just 'cause he knows, he'll get off better with Tennyson. You know that's not how I function, Devlin."

The raven-haired teen turned to lock eyes with his father. An unvoiced plea in his dark rimmed emerald eyes that bled into his exhausted voice. "Just, let him go, Dad!"

Kevin schooled his demeanor into a stoic mask, but an alarm was going off in his head as he analyzed his son's eyes. Something was very wrong. He gesture with his head to the front door. "Fine, take him home. You have fifteen minutes to get back here. Then we'll talk."

Devlin nodded gratefully to his father and tapped his cousin on the shoulder. "Come on, Dude. Go get your stuff."

Kenny straightened, swung the stool around to face his uncle and stepped off. Then, he wrapped his arms around the shocked raven-haired Osmosian in the tightest bear hug he could muster, which actually knocked the wind out of the completely unsuspecting Kevin. He sent a questioning look at his son.

Devlin just smiled tiredly and shrugged in response. He didn't really get the brunette teen, either.

'Thank you, Uncle Kevin!" Kenny looked up at his very confused uncle with a bright smile and released him before running for his older cousin's bedroom to get his bag.

Both Levins followed him with their eyes. "Devlin…?"

The raven-haired teen raised a halting hand immediately. "When I get back, Dad… I promise."

Kevin shot him a look that was amazingly, both concerned and intimidating simultaneously, passing him on his way to his and Gwen's bedroom. "Definitely, Kid. You have fifteen minutes. After that- I head out after you."

Yup, he was definitely hosed.

* * *

><p>The moment he walked into the house after dropping off Kenny, Devlin made his way to the kitchen. He knew both his parents would be there waiting for him. His father wouldn't have wasted a moment before calling his mother, once he saw his eyes. He'd probably called her before he'd left the house with his cousin.<p>

Gwen was getting something out of the kitchen cabinet, but turned as she heard her son come in. She made her way around the counter to stand next to her husband, who was leaning against it with his arms crossed. The moment Kevin had called and told her something was wrong with Devlin- she'd rushed home from headquarters. Her husband had been vague, but said it was imperative she get home right away. He'd looked impassive since she'd arrived and had barely spoken a word to her beyond a hello, followed by a quick peck on the cheek. He was obviously worried about their son.

Now, as her boy walked into the kitchen, she could sympathize completely with the man beside her. A shocked gasp escaped her gaping lips. She instantly darted forth, placing both hands on her son's cheeks. Worry inundated her emerald eyes as she examined his. It had been years since she had seen this on an Osmosian, certainly not on one she loved! "God Devlin! What happened!"

Devlin smiled reassuringly at his mother and placed a loving kiss on her forehead before enveloping her in his muscled arms. He'd missed her so much. Even if he'd seen a younger version of her a few hours ago. He found he'd missed _her_, terribly.

Gwen found herself confounded by her son's behavior. Nevertheless, having a teenager openly offer a hug was rare, so she indulged and returned the hug fervently.

When he released her, Devlin looked pleadingly into his mother's green eyes and voiced his request. "Mom, I'm too spent to explain everything. Nothing in my mind can harm anybody but you anymore. I'm going to block out some of it for your protection, but I need you to probe me and catch Dad up, okay?"

Gwen didn't fully understand the odd request but she could certainly indulge her son. She placed her hands on both his temples and both their eyes glowed magenta as he guided her through everything that had happened since they had gone to work that morning. It was like watching a movie in fast forward, only you could understand all the images perfectly.

She was starkly aware of the gaps in the information he was allowing her access to. It was disconcerting, to say the least. Like a poorly edited movie that randomly jumped scenes. What made it worse, though, was that everything blocked off concerned her. He was allowing her to see everything else, however. Therefore, as she broke their link, she was unsure how she was supposed to feel about what he'd done. Did the ends justify the means?

Gwen scrutinized her son, who had an incredibly contrite expression on his face. A determined frown now adorned hers. "Show me everything, Devlin."

The teens eyes widened in horror at his mother's request. He shook his head violently. "You don't need to see anymore, Mom. You know what I did already." He was almost begging.

Kevin stepped forward now, coming to stand next to his wife. The command in his voice left no room for argument. "Do as your mother asks, Devlin."

'_Oh, God!_' Devlin sent an almost pained look at his father. "Dad, you have to believe me. You have no idea what you're asking for." He brought his hand up to caress his mother's cheek and added in a pained, low voice. "What _she's_ asking for."

Gwen could see the obvious agony this was causing her son, but she had to know. She could_ not_ pass judgment on his actions without knowing everything. "Please Dev," her voice was soft and pleading with no hint of condemnation, "I deserve to know what happened to me."

The desperation in his mother's voice broke the teens resolve and he placed both his hands on her temples. He re-established the link and opened the floodgates of his mind to everything that had happened, unfiltered. He fed her the information as fast as he could in the hopes that it would sting less.

It didn't.

The moment the data stream ended; Gwen collapsed to the floor, tears starting to form in her eyes.

Kevin immediately kneeled over her, concerned, "Gwen are you, alright?" He'd seen her collapse during probes before. But, not in years.

Devlin choked back the guilty tears that threatened to break through at watching his mother on the floor, a result of what she'd forced him to show her. He couldn't stand it anymore. He had to get out of there. "Dad, she can tell you everything when she feels up to it. You know where to find me when you need me." With that, he literally fled for his room.

Kevin was about to call after him, when Gwen put a hand on his arm, garnishing his attention. "Don't Kevin. We need to talk." Her voice was so small and anguished- her husband had absolutely no choice but to acquiesce.

* * *

><p>Devlin didn't know how long he'd been in his room, when he heard a knock.<p>

It woke him. Woke him? When had he fallen asleep?

He sat up on his bed as both his parents entered. His mother promptly, coming to his side and wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug, which he returned with vigor. "I love you, Sweetheart. You are _my_ miracle. Don't ever forget that." As she pulled away, she gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead.

It was obvious to Devlin, this was his mother's way of letting him know that she forgave him and wasn't going to seek further retribution for what he'd done. The teenager let out a relieved breath. He wasn't getting his butt handed to him in the gym. Unfortunately, for him, however- he had two parents.

Gwen got up and sauntered over to her husband. She wrapped a hand around his neck, pulling him down for a quick kiss, then smirked up at him coyly. "Don't take too long. I'm really tired. I might be asleep when you come in." She finished her statement with a mock pout, which made her bottom lip protrude just, so.

Kevin gave her a longing glare. God, he wanted to nibble her lip when she pouted like that! Why did she even tease him like this when he had to discipline the boy? Did she enjoy torturing him? Probably. That made the retribution all the more fun, though. His eyes traced the curve of her figure, landing on her rear-end as she left their son's room, heading for theirs.

"You know, you stared at her butt like that when you were a teenager. I think it hypnotizes you."

His son's voice snapped his thoughts away from the ginger and brought him back to the task at hand. He sent the teen a knowing smirk. "You have _no_ idea, Kid."

He straightened to his impressive full height, moving closer to his son. He brought both hands behind his back, grasping them there. He regarded the boy curiously. When he spoke, there was only inquisitiveness in his voice and he was smiling. "Where is it, Devlin?"

Dread settled uncomfortably in the teenager's stomach at his father's request, regardless of how pleasantly he'd worded it. He knew this man too well and he knew exactly what his father was referring to. He reluctantly gestured towards his desk.

Kevin strolled leisurely towards the desk and picked up the small communicator-sized device. He examined it as he came back over to his son's bed and sat down on it, propping one leg under himself, facing the teenager. He was really impressed. This was advanced tech… even for him!

He kept looking the device over instead of the teenager as he spoke. Despite his currently growing ire, he couldn't help the genuine pride that laced his words. He kept his voice completely leveled and conversational. "You know, I brag about you, Devlin. At the Plumbers headquarters nobody believes the _crap_, you come up with." Devlin cringed. The way his father had worded that didn't sound like a compliment, at all.

If his father noticed, he pretended he hadn't as he continued. "The kind of _unique_ son you are..." Kevin suddenly looked up at his son, lifting the dimensional gateway and nodding at it. "This uses fourth dimensional math to triangulate the coordinates in the Time Space Continuum?"

The dread inside Devlin was only increasing with each word his father spoke. This was _not_ the normal conversation his father was making it out to be. He wasn't stupid enough not to answer, though. "Fifth dimensional math, Dad."

Kevin let out an impressed whistle and grinned. "Wow! That's amazing! Cooper is going to go insane trying to decipher that kind of programming!" He followed this with a sinister snicker at what he knew, would be a daunting task for his Plumber friend.

And there it was.

Devlin rubbed the bridge of his nose defeated. "Aww! Come on! Not Cooper, Dad!"

Kevin pointedly ignored his son, getting up and heading to his desk to rummage through his computer's data files. He continued speaking, his voice now taking on a conspicuously fake, overly-dramatic, insanely happy, proud intonation. "Yup! Everyone at the office is going to hear what a generous, brilliant, _special _boy I have." A second later, he suddenly went completely serious, turning disturbingly cold onyx eyes to the teenager. "What file are the specs under, Devlin?"

The raven-haired teen couldn't help the flinch nor the shudder that ran through him at the menacing undertone to his father's question. Kenny was right. His father really was terrifying!

It took him a moment to find his voice. "I-It's in the personal files, Dad… under 'Cross-time Gate'." He didn't even know why his dad bothered asking. The man was a notorious hacker. He was just screwing with his head, now.

Kevin smiled insanely again as he quickly typed something into the computer. "No, it's not." He commented in a sing-song intonation. Then, he shut the computer off and turned to his son, completely serious once more. The edge to his voice could have cut glass at this point. "Not anymore, anyway. They are officially, Plumbers' security files now."

Devlin rubbed his eyes and moaned. "Dad, it took me over two years to design that!"

Kevin came back and sat on the bed again, same position as before. "Considering how much time you'll have on your hands for the next eight weeks, I'm sure you can build another one in half that time- maybe even a third. Although, you might seriously consider using some of that time to build yourself a new computer. Your hard-drive is trashed." He deadpanned casually.

Devlin's eyes shot wide with horror and locked with his father's. He didn't care about the computer. He could fix it in a few hours (though, for the life of him, he had no idea how Kevin fried it that fast). However, his father was confiscating_ his _designs, _his_ work and caging him up for how long? The unchecked spike in his temper morphed his voice into a scandalized shriek. "You're grounding me for two months? Did Mom forget to mention, I saved _your_ butt?"

In the blink of an eye, Kevin rammed both open palms into the headboard Devlin was reclining his head on. His arms now flanked either side of the boys face, as he leaned menacingly over him and shot the teenager a furious glare that literally made the teen shrink into himself after flinching. His anger colored his baritone into a near growl. "Don't forget who you're talking to, Devlin! You are out of your mind, if you think I will allow you, for a second, to use that tone with me! How arrogant are you to presume you can insult my intelligence? We both know, this isn't about what you did when you traveled back! It's about you blatantly, pissing over my punishment the first shot you got! You showed complete insubordination and disrespect to me and dragged Kenny, who needs this discipline, along with you! You let _me_ down and ultimately, failed your own best friend! Do you really think you do _him_ any favors by getting him out of crap like this? Or, were you just so pissed off at me, you stopped caring about _him_ altogether?"

Kevin violently snapped back his arms, coiling his hands tightly into fists. He sat back on the bed, facing away from his son. He had to rein in his temper before he lost control. He couldn't loose it with his son. He shut his eyes tight, breathing in and out slowly as he angled his head back and cracked his neck.

Devlin watched his father, his anger long since replaced by shameful attrition. When he spoke, he sounded so much younger than he was. "In that moment, I was so pissed off at you that I didn't think about what it would mean for Kenny at all, Dad."

The older Osmosian could neither make eye contact with him nor keep the anger out of his voice when he responded harshly. He hadn't fully reined it in yet. "I know, Kid! The question was rhetorical! You're smarter than this!"

'_Ouch!_' The dark-haired teen wasn't ready for how deeply the enmity in his father's comment would sting. He wasn't sure he'd ever gotten him this mad before. "Dad, I'm really sorry!" There was a sob in his voice as he blinked back genuinely remorseful tears.

Kevin found that sound mitigated his anger almost into oblivion. He sighed and locked eyes with his son sympathetically. "I know you are, Son. The problem's that you aren't sorry for the right reason." When the teenager's emerald eyes narrowed in honest confusion, he explained. "You're sorry for not doing what was best for Kenny… Now that your temper isn't overriding your judgment, you're probably sorry about disappointing me and you're definitely sorry you got caught, because it means the loss of your freedom for the next couple of months- your car too, by the way." Devlin cringed again. Not the car!

"But you are entirely too full of yourself to feel sorry for what you actually _did_, Kid. If Paradox hadn't left you where he did, which we both know he did on purpose; you would have tried to cover this whole thing up as if it never happened! You're proud of what you did. You are nowhere near sorry." Kevin let out an exasperated breath and ran a hand aggravatingly through his hair, pulling out the tie and letting the long raven locks flow freely down his back.

Devlin silently considered every word his father had spoken. He couldn't find fault with any of it. His father knew him to a tee. He felt incredible self-loathing at the accurate depiction. He was wrenched from his moping, however, as his father continued.

"When you were little, you acted out to test your boundaries. It was annoying, but understandable. All kids do that. Now, you're pulling this kinda crap, just out of some twisted thrill you get out of defying _me_, regardless of the inevitable consequences."

'_To a freaking, tee!_'

"Do you have any idea how frustrating you are to deal with now, Devlin?" Kevin didn't expect an answer. He just released another discomfited sigh.

Devlin was amazed how well his father understood him. He'd always known they were kindred, but hearing him analyze the faults within his own psyche so poignantly was honestly flabbergasting. His dad was right. He didn't like pissing him off intentionally. The man was his idol, but there was an unbelievably thrilling challenge and satisfaction, he drew from the prospect of besting him at anything. Not to mention, his father was the pinnacle of an authority figure in his life and something dark and twisted inside him, compelled the teen to rebel against the very idea of what he stood for. How sick was that? "I don't know how to change who I am, Dad."

Kevin scoffed humorlessly at this. "You can't change who you are, Kid. Believe me, I'm exactly like you." Then suddenly, he chuckled as if remembering some old joke. "God! Ma was right! You _are_ my retribution for what I put her through as a kid. My penance is having to raise myself!" He brought up a hand to rub his eyes and then shook his head, regarding his son with a mirthless smirk. "I don't want you to change, Devlin. I'm trying to show you how to adapt- to turn your negatives into positives as you age and, believe me, I can handle anything you can throw at me. I deal with way worse than you, daily. I just need you to understand the difference between right and wrong. The line between those two blurs at times with you, Kid."

Devlin was really wallowing in self-pity now, but something in his father's voice alighted a seed of hope. "_You_ turned out okay."

The smile on the older Osmosian's countenance turned sad, as he responded. "My childhood was a nightmare, Devlin. I had to crash and burn to learn every lesson in life the hard way. I won't allow that to happen to you." The conviction in his voice dictated his intention to keep pelting his son with this wisdom (the hard way, if necessary) until the boy learned or tired himself out… whichever came first.

Kevin leaned over and brushed the teenager's bangs back so that he could better assess his energy-damaged eyes. "Whoa! Those really _are_ ugly. No wonder your mom wasn't into me when we first met." There was obvious humor in the disparagement.

Devlin couldn't help smiling at the poorly-timed joke, even if it was kind of at his expense, also. "Mom wasn't into you because you were a maniac and she was ten. Hormones don't kick in that early, Dad."

His father regarded him unfazed. "I was into _her_. Your mom was a hot ten-year-old." Devlin's face instantly twisted into a perturbed, grimace. "Then again I was a little advanced for eleven. You'd be amazed, the stuff you pick-up living on the streets in New York... How did it feel, Devlin?" Kevin appeared to be searching for something, deep in his son's eyes.

Shame flooded the teenager at his father's unexpected question. He knew what he was referring to. It was so personal, though. He felt the blush creep up his neck, averting his eyes to the bed. "I don't want to talk about that, Dad."

"Not talking about it doesn't help you any, Kid. It actually makes the craving worse and believe me; now that you've tried it, the craving will come. Not to mention, the guilt and the stigma. This is what we are, though, you and I. It is part of our nature: the darkest part. I never wanted you to sample life energy, because I know how addictive it is. Regardless of its inability to overpower you physically, you can still get hooked on it psychologically. Talking helps." Kevin put an encouraging hand on his son's shoulder and nudged him to look at him.

Devlin hesitantly met his fathers understanding gaze again, uncertainty written all over his aspect. "How can just talking about it make it easier?"

Kevin shrugged easily. "I don't over-analyze it. Nevertheless, it works. I sleep every night next to a living; breathing, life-energy-battery that I've actually _tasted_ and I engendered another one that's down the hall within easy reach. Now that you have sampled what it's like, you can imagine the kind of temptation that posses for an Osmosian."

This was certainly news to Devlin. He'd never even thought about how having him and his mother around affected what was in essence, a recovering addict. His father had to deal with the urge all the time. How did someone even negotiate something like that? The teenager found a whole new respect for his father. The awe he felt found its way to his voice. "Who do _you_ talk to about it, to control it?"

Kevin was glad the kid was opening up. He had no idea how dangerous his son could become if he developed a taste for that kind of energy. The boy was one of the most resourceful beings he'd ever known. "While I was a pre-teen and early in my teens, I was still locked-up in the Null Void. I had a friend who taught me to talk through it. Now, whenever I need to, I turn to Tennyson or your mother. Ben has an amazing ability to relate. I've always suspected, there's an Osmosian somewhere in his watch. Your mother has always had the innate ability to understand me. Not to mention, she relieves the cravings in a whole different way." He smiled in a distinctly inappropriate way as he spoke the last part and his eyes unfocused at the thought of the red-head. He wondered if he could still catch her before she got out of the shower.

Devlin shifted uncomfortably and crossed his arms. A hint of anger came to his voice. "Way too much information, Dad!"

Kevin chuckled at his son's discomfort and crossed his arms in mock indignation. "It's _your_ fault I'm stuck in here instead of there. Don't blame _me_ if my mind wonders. You saw what she did before she left. For that matter, stop procrastinating! Tell me how absorbing life energy felt, Devlin!"

The teenager had to really, consider his answer a moment. He looked down at his hands. He could almost feel them tingling with the power the raw energy had brought with it. "It was amazing, Dad. I don't even have anything to compare it to. It was bliss. I wanted to get lost in that feeling forever. Nothing else mattered." His voice grew low and angry, as he continued. "I lost all touch with my humanity. I wanted to drain every drop out of him. He didn't deserve to have that kind of power… to experience something so magnificent."

Devlin's emerald eyes shot up in shocked horror at what he'd just admitted. The realization was daunting. He wasn't going to kill Kevin 11,000 for some righteous reason. Not to avenge his mother or all those the monster had hurt and murdered. He'd lost control. He wanted the power. He wanted the feeling to last longer. He was a murderer!

Kevin wasn't surprised when his son dashed out of his bed, rushing to his bathroom. He just got up and headed for the kitchen to get the kid some water. He was going to need it once he stopped retching.

* * *

><p>Fifteen minutes later, the teenager finally emerged. His father was splayed on his bed, his back propped up against the headboard and pillows. He was analyzing the inner workings of the cross-time gate. He didn't look up at him as he spoke, but his voice held no recrimination. "How do you feel now, Devlin?"<p>

For some unknown reason both his father's question and the nonchalant way he'd posed it, caused an acute spike in the raven-haired teenager's tenor and the remorseful tears came with his tirade. "How do you _think_ I feel, Dad! I tried to murder someone, just for the freaking, thrill of it! I saw another living thing twitch in agony and couldn't care less! All I wanted was that feeling! I'm a freak, Dad! A murderous, freak!" Devlin wrapped his arms around himself in an attempt to will the shuddering and angry tears to stem.

Kevin contemplated him with a pained, sympathetic look. "No you're not, Devlin. You know, you can believe the voice of personal experience. Come here, Son." He patted the space on the bed next to him.

When the teenager remained stubbornly standing in the same distraught position, his father huffed out a tired breath. "Devlin, you're exhausted. Come sit. If you don't want to be near me, I'll stand." It was somewhat underhanded to take advantage of his son's already guilt-ridden conscience by making it sound as if he actually believed the teenager didn't want him around, but it worked. His son promptly sat on the bed, his back turned to him.

Kevin smiled. He looked so much like Gwen when he pouted. He was so big for his age that it was easy to forget, he was still just a child. "It's going to be hard having a conversation with the back of your head, Kid."

Devlin just shrugged and slumped, his arms still crossed, sulking.

Kevin rolled his eyes and in a flash, had his arms locked around his son's torso, back flipping him onto the bed. The teenager landed on his back with a look between surprised anger and poorly concealed amusement on his face. He looked up at his father who was now lying on his stomach, propping himself up on his elbows. He had an infuriatingly superior smirk on his face. "You really _do_ like making everything difficult for me. Don't you, Kid?"

The raven-haired teenager just huffed petulantly and glared at the ceiling.

Kevin just kept on smiling at him. Although, his next words cut him more than the boy could ever know. "I've actually done it, Dev. I've gone all the way… back in the Null Void. The energy screws with my inhibitions, not my memories. They were murderers and scum that wouldn't have hesitated to do the same to me, given the chance. Nevertheless, it doesn't make a difference in the end. I remember hearing them scream as they lost everything that they had to me. I remember not caring that they no longer existed, so that I could maintain that high." Devlin turned emerald, commiserating eyes to lock with his father's pain-filled obsidian. "Worse of all, I remember what I did to your mother…"

"You did nothing, Son. You indulged in something you had never known and caught yourself before you went too far."

Devlin shook his head, despair twisting his features again. "But, I didn't catch myself. I could have killed him, Dad. I tried. I don't know how he survived. He could just as easily be dead." He sounded positively terrified at the possibility.

Kevin swept his son's bangs back out of his eyes. "If you would have killed him, you would have learned to live with it, as I have. What you feel now is the healthiest thing you can feel about this. Connect how you feel right now with what you know absorbing life energy feels like, Devlin. This feeling is the ultimate form of control for us. It's what keeps me from ever hurting anyone else this way again."

They both laid there in silent introspection, Kevin interlacing his finger, staring at the bedroom door and Devlin staring up at the ceiling. After a few moments, the teenager broke the silence with a hushed inquiry. "Dad, I'm never going to be the same again, am I?"

Kevin placed a hand on his son's shoulder and squeezed affectionately. The boy turned to him and found his father smiling back warmly. "No, Son. You're not. But, that's true about every choice you make in your life. Our choices, in the end, become an intricate tapestry that defines who we are."

Devlin let out a long, relaxed breath. He was finally feeling better. He decided to see how charitable his father was after this little emotional chat. "Dad, do I really have to be grounded for two months? You already took the gate!"

Kevin promptly rolled his eyes irritated and huffed out a breath, propping himself up off the bed and heading for the door. "The punishment stands, Kid. We both know the specs to this thing are crystalline in your memory, regardless of what I did to your computer. You're grounded for being an insolent, defiant, arrogant jerk. Now, if you'll excuse me… I have a tired red-head waiting for me."

Devlin couldn't help getting another jab in. He was grounded forever, anyway. He quickly turned onto his stomach, propping himself on his elbows to face his father, just as the older Osmosian was about to exit the room. His emerald eyes glinted with mischief and he sent his father an incredibly cruel smirk. "Always so eager to fight an unbeatable war… aren't you, Old Man?"

Kevin paused and turned to face him. Confusion ghosted across his visage a split second, before he caught the meaning of the statement. He fought the urge to flip off his own son, deciding on mock laughter instead. "Oh, that's really good, Kid!"

Gwen was going to kill him for this, but he was_ not_ going to let the smug little bastard have the last word. He leveled a supremely, triumphant glare at his prone teenage son, smirking back evilly. "Your mother is almost five months pregnant, Devlin. She's just not showing, yet." When the teenager shot up instantly with elated shock written all over his face, he added. "Your, smart-ass little comment, just got you grounded until the kid is born. She could use you around the house the next four or five months."

With that parting comment, Kevin was out the door to find Gwen, laughing sadistically to himself.

Devlin just sat there stupefied a moment, before yelling out in frustration.

"HOW DOES HE _ALWAYS_ DO THAT?"

_FIN_

**A/N: Please Review!**


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